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BruceFlorida
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This Engineer Needs Some Support

07/27/2015 12:54 PM

A street maintenance engineer in Davenport Kansas made a few investments in capital equipment and Davenport can now do street projects twice as fast and for half the cost. This story (LINK) is about the Local 309 labor union taking action to force him to pay twice as much and close streets for twice as long. What makes this story unusual is that the city workers are members of the Teamsters Union. The 309 union hired a lawyer to take work away from the Teamsters union because the Teamsters are too efficient. The city engineer and Teamsters are only trying to serve the taxpayers of the city.

I have a two lane road near my house that is well into its second year of construction. There was a curve about 300 feet long where the hot asphalt was washboarding up due to people hitting their breaks on hot days. About 2 years ago the county dug a couple of holes in the road for sewer lift station related work. They then decided that the 300 foot long curve was rough due to the road having a bad base (sand). About two or three times a month they will peel up a couple of hundred feet of asphalt from one lane, dig out the old sand, lay in new sand and put down a little asphalt. This has been going on for about 2 years and probably won't be done for another 6 months. All this just so we can have new sand in place of the old sand. I wish we had a street maintenance engineer like Davenport Kansas.

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Original_Macgyver
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#1

Re: This engineer needs some support

07/27/2015 12:57 PM

The underlayment should be compacted type 2 asphalt road base, not sand!!

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Fredski
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#2

Re: This engineer needs some support

07/27/2015 1:07 PM

job security
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JBTardis
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#3

Re: This engineer needs some support

07/27/2015 1:29 PM

"Local 309 labor union taking action to force him to pay twice as much and close streets for twice as long. "
And people wonder why I'm not a fan of unions.

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lyn
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#4

Re: This Engineer Needs Some Support

07/27/2015 6:39 PM

First, let's kill all the attorneys.
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Ed Watts
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#5
In reply to #4

Re: This Engineer Needs Some Support

07/28/2015 1:30 AM

Shakespeare was 'WAY ahead of his time.
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Andy Germany
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#6
In reply to #4

Re: This Engineer Needs Some Support

07/28/2015 3:38 AM

What is it when you find 100 lawyers, chained together, lying on the floor of the Ocean?

A damn good start!!

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JBTardis
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#8
In reply to #6

Re: This Engineer Needs Some Support

07/28/2015 7:23 AM

A 100? I wouldn't call that a good start. I'd call it a start. A good start would be more like 10,000.

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Andy Germany
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#14
In reply to #8

Re: This Engineer Needs Some Support

07/28/2015 1:34 PM

LOL!!!

AND true!!!

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JBTardis
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#7
In reply to #4

Re: This Engineer Needs Some Support

07/28/2015 7:22 AM

Amen

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Kevin LaPaire
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#9

Re: This Engineer Needs Some Support

07/28/2015 8:14 AM

Interesting article indeed. It is rare when beaurocrats try to save tax payers money. Kudo 's to Davenport city engineer. I see he came from a "non-public" background, where he would have been aware of the overheads and profits that are built into all tender bids. The city would likely have had someone overseeing the work in any event, just to ensure that the tender requirements were met.

I can clearly state that I am not familiar with Kansas' rules and regulations, but I think that the tax payers will be a happier bunch of people in getting more roadwork/repairs done in a more timely manner.

As for the union bickering, it's a matter of jurisdiction(or should I say which one can collect the most dues to support it's own overheads).

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SHOCKHISCAN
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#10

Re: This Engineer Needs Some Support

07/28/2015 9:14 AM

I would think the curve near your house would be a leading candidate for metal reinforced cement concrete given the current issues with asphalt.

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rashavarek
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#11

Re: This Engineer Needs Some Support

07/28/2015 9:51 AM

I guess we are actually taking about Iowa and not Kansas.

This brings into focus two very important questions. One, have unions become their own enemies?

Two, why would anyone complain about a government actually SAVING the taxpayers money?

The union might want to keep in mind how close to Wisconsin they are. How popular Walker is in Iowa, and the fact that Iowa is a conservative state.

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Kevin LaPaire
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#12
In reply to #11

Re: This Engineer Needs Some Support

07/28/2015 10:07 AM

Unions have always been competing with each other for membership. It all comes down to the almighty $$. And,,, they have to at least appear to be doing something for their members.

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JBTardis
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#13
In reply to #11

Re: This Engineer Needs Some Support

07/28/2015 1:20 PM

"why would anyone complain about a government actually SAVING the taxpayers money?"

The one's who complain are generally related in some way to who would have been getting the money the government is saving by not paying.

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CaptMoosie
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#15

Re: This Engineer Needs Some Support

07/28/2015 4:57 PM

They should have laid a compacted layer of crushed stone of gravel subbase course, followed by an Asphalt Concrete Binder course, and finally topped off with an Asphalt Concrete Top (wearing) course.

Placing asphalt directly on sand is a big no-no! No wonder it keeps failing repeatedly.

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Wrench twirler
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#16

Re: This Engineer Needs Some Support

07/29/2015 12:12 AM

Sorry Capt gotta steal this one.

They should have laid a compacted layer of crushed stone of gravel lawyers/politicians subbase course, followed by an Asphalt Concrete Binder course, and finally topped off with an Asphalt Concrete Top (wearing) course.

JMHO

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Users who posted comments:

Andy Germany (2); CaptMoosie (1); Ed Watts (1); Fredski (1); JBTardis (4); Kevin LaPaire (2); lyn (1); Original_Macgyver (1); rashavarek (1); SHOCKHISCAN (1); Wrench twirler (1)

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