Irving Street
Contributed by: Anonymous
What is the story with Irving Street? How long has it been messed up, and when will it be finished? I don't get to that part of town too often, but I can see that it will be a MAJOR hassle if it's still torn up when school starts.
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Irving Street
Authored by: admin on Wednesday, August 10 2005 @ 02:22 PM MDT
West Irving Street between Jackson and North Main has been under construction since late June and will be until Oct. 3. It has been a major hassle so far and when school starts it ought to become even more interesting.
I don't think anyone expects that major reconstruction can happen with no noise, headaches or inconveniences. But what makes it especially bad is the attitude of some of the contractors or subcontractors and utility people involved in this project. Some of these folks have no concerns when they block people's driveways on the side streets. It seems that the very least they should do is notify the residents if they plan to block their driveways. But they don't. Instead they block the driveway with their trucks or with other materials or equipment and when you need to get out you're expected to run around finding a supervisor to clear the way for you. It's just plain inconsiderate and annoying, not to mention, probably illegal.
Also, at the end of many workdays, the contractors have left huge "craters" in the road on Irving Street (which is open to local traffic) without putting up proper barricades or barrels to prevent accidents from occuring by people accidentally driving into them. Do they not understand how hazardous this is? And the flashing lights on the barricades they do have up in some places often don't work at night or they flash so faintly that they may as well be non-existent.
Also, whether or not traffic can get down a given road or side street often changes from day to day - even from hour to hour - but the "local traffic only" signs continue to stay up. So, for example, a person can start down a road that an hour earlier they got through on, only to get so far and then have to turn around because trucks and materials are now completely blocking their passage.
Some of the contractors have been very decent to work with and the city staff has been wonderful, too. But they all need to understand that people's lives and sleep are already being disrupted by the work alone, so they should take appropriate steps to make sure they don't cause even more, unecessary headaches.
Finally, there is a small contingent of college students who just can't seem to leave their hands off things and mind their own business, especially after a night at the bars. These "children" routinely, especially on the weekends (from Thursday night through usually Saturday), knock down barricades that are up and move others of them from one place to another, which creates even more safety issues for motorists. They have been seen throwing construction materials around (the ones they can pick up, that is) and they seem to take special pride in tipping over the construction crews' Port-a-Pottys. The crews have now begun chaining them to the phone pole, but the kids are still tipping them over as far as they are able to. Mind you, most students at UW-O are decent and respectful young adults. But maybe the workers should find a way to secure that small group of vandals who give their fellow students a bad name to their dorm rooms instead of chaining the Port-a-Pottys to the phone pole. That would eliminate at least some of the problems.
- Cheryl
Irving Street
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, August 10 2005 @ 09:47 PM MDT
Thanks Cheryl - that is very helpful - and unfortunate...
Irving Street
Authored by: admin on Thursday, August 11 2005 @ 11:07 AM MDT
Just a quick update: This morning the contractors on this job (Vinton Construction) began work around 6:45 a.m. That is in violation of the city's noise ordinances and people around the construction area were not happy - myself included. I made a call to the city and let them know about it and at least one neighbor called Vinton Construction. This is the very kind of disregard for the neighbors that I talked about yesterday.
It would be nice if when awarding bids in the future, the city and city council took these kinds of things into consideration, especially since we neighbors are paying a huge chunk of the bill personally and all citizens are paying another huge chunk through our taxes.
- Cheryl
Irving Street
Authored by: Michelle Monte on Thursday, August 11 2005 @ 02:44 PM MDT
Is this the same Vinton Construction out of Manitowoc that just got prosecuted for bid rigging?
---
Thanks for reading.
Irving Street
Authored by: admin on Thursday, August 11 2005 @ 02:46 PM MDT
I believe they are one and the same. Makes one wonder what the city is thinking, if that is in fact the case, doesn't it?
What is the story with Irving Street? How long has it been messed up, and when will it be finished? I don't get to that part of town too often, but I can see that it will be a MAJOR hassle if it's still torn up when school starts.
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Irving Street
Authored by: admin on Wednesday, August 10 2005 @ 02:22 PM MDT
West Irving Street between Jackson and North Main has been under construction since late June and will be until Oct. 3. It has been a major hassle so far and when school starts it ought to become even more interesting.
I don't think anyone expects that major reconstruction can happen with no noise, headaches or inconveniences. But what makes it especially bad is the attitude of some of the contractors or subcontractors and utility people involved in this project. Some of these folks have no concerns when they block people's driveways on the side streets. It seems that the very least they should do is notify the residents if they plan to block their driveways. But they don't. Instead they block the driveway with their trucks or with other materials or equipment and when you need to get out you're expected to run around finding a supervisor to clear the way for you. It's just plain inconsiderate and annoying, not to mention, probably illegal.
Also, at the end of many workdays, the contractors have left huge "craters" in the road on Irving Street (which is open to local traffic) without putting up proper barricades or barrels to prevent accidents from occuring by people accidentally driving into them. Do they not understand how hazardous this is? And the flashing lights on the barricades they do have up in some places often don't work at night or they flash so faintly that they may as well be non-existent.
Also, whether or not traffic can get down a given road or side street often changes from day to day - even from hour to hour - but the "local traffic only" signs continue to stay up. So, for example, a person can start down a road that an hour earlier they got through on, only to get so far and then have to turn around because trucks and materials are now completely blocking their passage.
Some of the contractors have been very decent to work with and the city staff has been wonderful, too. But they all need to understand that people's lives and sleep are already being disrupted by the work alone, so they should take appropriate steps to make sure they don't cause even more, unecessary headaches.
Finally, there is a small contingent of college students who just can't seem to leave their hands off things and mind their own business, especially after a night at the bars. These "children" routinely, especially on the weekends (from Thursday night through usually Saturday), knock down barricades that are up and move others of them from one place to another, which creates even more safety issues for motorists. They have been seen throwing construction materials around (the ones they can pick up, that is) and they seem to take special pride in tipping over the construction crews' Port-a-Pottys. The crews have now begun chaining them to the phone pole, but the kids are still tipping them over as far as they are able to. Mind you, most students at UW-O are decent and respectful young adults. But maybe the workers should find a way to secure that small group of vandals who give their fellow students a bad name to their dorm rooms instead of chaining the Port-a-Pottys to the phone pole. That would eliminate at least some of the problems.
- Cheryl
Irving Street
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, August 10 2005 @ 09:47 PM MDT
Thanks Cheryl - that is very helpful - and unfortunate...
Irving Street
Authored by: admin on Thursday, August 11 2005 @ 11:07 AM MDT
Just a quick update: This morning the contractors on this job (Vinton Construction) began work around 6:45 a.m. That is in violation of the city's noise ordinances and people around the construction area were not happy - myself included. I made a call to the city and let them know about it and at least one neighbor called Vinton Construction. This is the very kind of disregard for the neighbors that I talked about yesterday.
It would be nice if when awarding bids in the future, the city and city council took these kinds of things into consideration, especially since we neighbors are paying a huge chunk of the bill personally and all citizens are paying another huge chunk through our taxes.
- Cheryl
Irving Street
Authored by: Michelle Monte on Thursday, August 11 2005 @ 02:44 PM MDT
Is this the same Vinton Construction out of Manitowoc that just got prosecuted for bid rigging?
---
Thanks for reading.
Irving Street
Authored by: admin on Thursday, August 11 2005 @ 02:46 PM MDT
I believe they are one and the same. Makes one wonder what the city is thinking, if that is in fact the case, doesn't it?
posted by Cheryl Hentz at 11:03 AM
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