COVID-19 Allows Faster Completion Of Road Projects In California

Road construction workers throughout California are taking advantage of reduced traffic due to extended orders to stay home. With reduced traffic, road construction projects are able to speed up the completion of road projects.

The contractor said that under temporary contracts with the US Department of Transportation and local government agencies, they worked full day instead of night, thereby extending working hours and immediately closing longer roads.

Saich-Mando construction company Teichert vice president Ed Herrnberger said: “People have realized that they can do more with less traffic, and this is happening.” Matt Rocco, a spokesman for the California Department of Transportation, said the city’s traffic volume has dropped by an average of 36%.

Teichert is working on a truck scale near Citrus Heights. This project can usually support traffic on Interstate 80 in the United States. Hernberg said that the company must wait for the project to start until the outside temperature is high enough to prevent packaging at night, but the company can now start during the day.

Hernberg said that an important project is to increase lanes on Interstate 5 south of Sacramento. The project is shifting from night shift to day shift. Russell Snyder, chairman of the California Asphalt Pavement Association, said that similar changes in the entire state project “are expected to complete road renovations faster and save taxpayers’ money.”

After passing a new gasoline tax in 2017 to raise more funds, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) launched a series of new road construction projects. Each gallon of gasoline increases by 12 cents, and each new capital is expected to increase by $5.4 billion annually.

At this point, it is too early to say how California’s “home education” to reduce gasoline use will affect future road improvement budgets. Rocco, a spokesman for the California Department of Transportation, said the department is “monitoring the decline in traffic and the update or change in revenue estimates.” This will be reflected in the revised national budget proposal. Gavin Newsom will be released in May.

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Improved Worker Safety

Senior vice president of Granite Construction, based in Watsonite, said that statewide construction changes have improved worker safety. Redditch said driving at night is more difficult and harmful to workers due to the danger of lane changes, reflective markings, lighting, and flares.

Improve visibility to make it safer during the day. In order to minimize the risk of coronavirus, workers should keep a distance of at least 6 feet as much as possible, and wear protective equipment and disinfection tools each time they are used. He said the company is shifting workers from projects with limited space (such as buildings and basements) to open road projects.

He said the company is booking hotel rooms for every employee, not two. If people suffer from chronic diseases or worry about safety, they do not have to go to work. He said that Fresno employees worked longer and last longer on a project on Bardsley Avenue. He said that the work schedule for the desert city has changed and the rotation project will be completed five weeks ago.

“In the end, these projects are expected to be completed as soon as possible and will reduce the overall impact on the public,” said Radici. 

According to the agreement with Caltrans and the local government, the project will resume its normal plan when traffic returns to normal levels. Rocco said some projects are undergoing changes as planned, but due to the coronavirus, some projects have been shelved. This includes a $46 million project to repair the 99th daytime road ramp at the Sacramento County border crossing from Galt to Smithhorn and to raise U.S. legal standards for people with disabilities.

Brennan Quinten

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