People have been confused about the start of our road trip. I’ve been walking into my neighborhood watering holes and they go: “Wait, what? I thought you were on the road!” (Hopefully with pleasant surprise, as in "Oh, glad you're still here" and not disappointed surprise, as in "Why the hell are you still here?").
The “road trip” sorta kinda started last week, when I took Amtrak—which just 5 days later derailed between Philadelphia and NYC (and, subsequently, still was the subject of adamant GOP-led refusals to up its funding)—to Boston to meet Dan and Mrs. Martin. We visited a couple of DPWs too. So that was a “soft” start
Another soft start occurred when Dan arrived in NYC yesterday, the 13th, and met my ENR colleagues. The tour has two major components: Visiting major construction projects, and visiting public works department facilities. We kicked off the first official construction site visit today with a look at the $1-billion Bayonne Bridge project with Dennis Stabile, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey program manager.
Often when asked what’s particularly interesting about a project, the officials will say, “Well, it’s somewhat unique…” This project is unique. I don’t know where else you will find a higher-elevation roadway being built one half at a time while the existing lower-elevation roadway is demolished one half at a time, all within the existing untied arch truss that has historic status, with no right-of-way acquisitions BUT with houses literally jutting up right next to the site that has 300-ft cranes AND is under the jurisdiction of two states AND a lane of traffic in each direction maintained all the while
Really not a bad way to start off!
