37: Repairing a road takes forever.
Problem: Especially on main roads, repairs should be carried out in the shortest possible time. The inconvenience to the public is simply to big.
However, nowadays roadwork contractors start Monday morning at 8 AM and finish Friday afternoon at 5PM. Only exceptionally is evening- or weekend work involved. People are annoyed, frustrated and irritated. This causes all kinds of problems.
Solution: It should be the other way around. "Unless a detour is available that allows for maximally 1,5 times the original travelling time, (length of the detour times the capacity of the detour) 24 hour shift work should be the standard"; the same as it is among factory workers or miners. A project that is only executed on during daytime should thus be the exception.
A couple of final remarks:
-A project that extends over the winter should be made available for traffic during that time.
-If technical breaks are necessary, a special permit is required and the builder must prove that no other work can be carried out on the project during this time.
-A project that has phases next to each other (for instance 3 little bridges) will be executed simultaneously. Not this year one little bridge that closes the road all year and next year another year round road closure that is caused by the next little bridge.
The sheer scale of (public) projects should ensure continued interest from contractors.
