I heard a news story this afternoon that really impressed me. The causeway and bridges linking Sanibel Island and the mainland of SW Florida, damaged by Hurricane Ian, were reopened for traffic today. Ian was coming ashore over there three weeks ago to the day, Wednesday, September 28th. A good summary and some videos worth watching are over at The Last Refuge (AKA Conservative Treehouse); not one of the places I read daily, but go to occasionally. The first video is 22 minutes while the second is 4:14 and seems to be all drone photographs.
Today Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was in the Punta Rassa area of South Fort Myers to celebrate a remarkable accomplishment. The Sanibel bridges and causeway are open to civilian traffic. {Direct Rumble Link}
The massive, albeit temporary, repairs to the three spans and spoil islands have been completed three weeks after Hurricane Ian wiped them out. A genuinely remarkable feat of engineering and git’ r done roughneck effort. Truly an incredible accomplishment. To check out the scale of it see PICTURES HERE. [pdf]
Obviously this is fast compared to any other public works repair project most of us have heard of. Governor DeSantis got the state Department of Transportation (FDOT) authorizations and set everything in motion to repair this on October 4th, with an expected date to complete by the end of the month. Given 27 days to complete the task, they did it 15 days.
One week later, October 11, the Governor announced that due to steady progress on repairs to the causeway, a one-time convoy of more than 350 vehicles for utility restoration would be able to safely cross the bridge onto Sanibel Island. You may have seen reports of all sorts of rescue operations to evacuate people with problems from Sanibel and the entire affected area. Those got to the island by helicopter or boat.
Between the article at the Last Refuge and the pdf file from the state, there's a bunch of impressive photos, but I'll be including one before and after set here. This is called Island 1, of the roughly three mile long causeway, but I don't know if the numbers start from the mainland or the island. Before:
The angle and view are different in the after photo, but that before view shows the breach of the island pretty clearly while the after view shows the repair well. Here's the after view:
If you look in the upper right corner of both pictures you can see they're pointing at the same group of buildings. It has been long enough since I've been to Sanibel that I don't know for sure, but I expect that the mainland is more built up so that's the direction we're looking.
Back during the aftermath of Katrina in New Orleans, an epic disaster mostly caused by NOLA government incompetence, the differences between how our state government and Louisiana's handled storms really struck me. I don't even remember which storm after Katrina it was, I just remember watching governor Jeb Bush doing some talks on TV and remembering similar talks from Louisiana and New Orleans. Comparing Jeb's preparation and Louisiana was like watching a SEAL team operation vs. the Keystone Kops. I'm not going to say DeSantis is making Bush look that bad, but I find this especially impressive.
To be honest, I have to admit I'm a little bummed that in three weeks, they've built a freaking temporary causeway and I haven't repaired 4" of aluminum tower leg. I balance that with the fact that I don't have the state's wallet to hire experts to just "make it so."
To borrow a quote from The Last Refuge:
Governor Ron DeSantis has done a great job, and those who wash with Lava soap and degreaser are inspiringly awesome.
I figured Sanibel was going to be out of business for awhile, that is something.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how long before the EPA shows up and makes them tear it all down? I did not seem THEM mentioned in the article...
DeleteI remember, MANY years back, that in Califrutopia (before it went rancid) that there was a *private* company that was tasked to rebuild a section of freeway(?) after an earthquake and they not only did it under time but under budget as well.
ReplyDeleteThose days are long gone, at least for the Californicators. It's Florida all the way today, as well as Texas. Will these days ever return?
C.C. Myers
DeleteC.C. figured if the contract includes 'liquidated damages' (for failure to complete on schedule), there should be a bonus for every day under schedule. The state reluctantly agreed.
Myers blew through his labor estimates to run three shifts around the clock. He told all the concrete batch plants to keep the trucks rolling no matter what. In true CC Myers fashion, he demanded home phone numbers from the plant supervisors. If a truck was late, they'd get an earful.
It wasn't a normal construction site; it was disconcerting for men to finish their shift then come back to see everything had changed since their last shift. Forgotton tools were sometimes buried in concrete.
State and CalTrans inspectors howled they couldn't keep pace. Concrete tests take time; CC was unwilling to allow for that. There were threats that an inspector might get buried if he weren't quick enough. Knowing CC, that wasn't idle talk. OSHA was having a cow. They drew up in the fill measure of their authority. They repeatedly threatened to red tag (stop work) the job. CC told CalTrans to keep OSHA away. They did.
The job was finished so far under schedule that state engineers thought CC had skipped certain items, like tieing rebar per design. So they conducted specific demolition to find evidence. They found CC had not skipped.
CC hosted a massive party for his workers and their families. Everyone got hefty bonuses. CC got his negotiated bonus which came out to be over $16 million. The state wrote laws thar prohibted any contractor from doing again what CC had done. Not bad for a poor kid in a true rags to riches story.
CC thereafter bought the motor raceway at Ontario, California. It had fallen on hard times. He sunk much of his own money into it to make it profitable.
He does have powerful critics. But they never mention how CC he was generous in taking care of his employees.
Interesting story! I've never heard of CC Myers or the rest of that.
Deletecompare that to Longboat Key where damage was minimal and public works still hasn't picked up downed fronds and branches from the curbs where they've been neatly placed
ReplyDeleteSame thing up here in PSJ! But then THAT is on the Brevard County Commission. Are any of them running for election this year?
DeleteThis seems to me to be a sane prioritization of resources.
DeleteThey haven't gotten our pile of tree branches and junk, either. It's a one-time disturbance and they just work their way through it. I've seen trucks out west of here, near Lake Washington cleaning up and working their way east.
DeleteBack in '04, when we had two hurricanes, Frances and Jeanne, a couple of weeks apart, I'm pretty sure I recall they cleaned up the Frances debris before Jeanne.
In 2004, Florida got smashed by 4 hurricanes within 3 months. Serious damage all over, fixed pretty much within 2-3 weeks of being hit (except for the roofs, some which took years to fix. Jeb Bush at his finest. The reason I was gonna vote for JEB! until Trump came along.
ReplyDeleteIn contrast, 2005, Mississippi got far more hammered than New Orleans. Seriously, there was serious flooding up to Pikayune, MS. Mississippi recovered quicker than Louisiana did.
Florida learned. Andrew was the serious kick-in-the-crotch that we needed. After Andrew, building codes were drastically changed and our emergency management agencies did not become massive bloated stupidity, unlike... Louisiana.
Even better, contrast the recovery from Andrew and the 2004 storms to Hurricane Sandy. New York's response, even though they had plenty of time and warning, was neck to neck with Louisiana.
Hmmm, seeing a theme here. Republican states recover quickly while Democrats flounder.
Please clap.
DeleteWell Louisiana was Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin of the "Chocolate City" (HIS words!)
DeleteI saw new yorkers eating trash out of dumpsters within days after sandy. LOL, ROTFLMAO.
ReplyDeleteI don't think they will do well if a real disaster hits. Too dependant on outside supply.
The Big Craphole is also the very definition of a "shithole hive."
DeleteI was working as an aircraft mech at LAX when the Northridge earthquake occurred. The contractor went balls to the wall to get the project done and succeeded. The political whining and crying about the bonuses went on and on but every mech at the airport was glad to be able to get home and back to work without it taking 6-8 hours winding through LA. I was also there for the Rodney King riots... leaving LA to work anywhere else in the Fedex system was a great move.
ReplyDeleteJust amazing. That's what people can do when freed to innovate and create.
ReplyDeleteBZ to DeSantis and Florida.
ReplyDeleteSame thing happened after the Northridge Quake.
I-10 and other freeways subsequently had a couple of hundred (IIRC) unsafe overpasses, and by incentivizing the repairs financially, they were done early and under budget.
If it happened now, TPTB would be whining and moaning about "destroying homeless habitat" under them, and wetting themselves if the contractors weren't LGBTEIEIO diverse, because there weren't enough blue-haired transgendered pseudo-dykes driving cement mixers.