According to the County Engineer, the STATE DOT would not allow the bridge fabricator to start pouring the concrete panels (the pieces we are currently waiting on) until THE STATE inspector was present.
Fair enough. I applaud the state's emphasis on safety.
HOWEVER ... this bridge project has been in the works for YEARS! Why did the state not start the parts fabrication process a year ago? 6 months ago? 3 months ago?
How could anyone, in good conscious give the approval to remove a bridge of this consequence without having all of the parts needed to replace it, lined up and ready to go in?
WHY did the state wait until 2 weeks AFTER the new footers were in place, to give the okay to start making the pieces that are needed next in this process?
The engineer's knew that it would take 6 - 8 weeks to fabricate these next pieces.
Did they tell the county that the pieces were not being made and would not be ready when needed?
If they did, why did no one at the county level contact our State Representatives and complain that the State DOT was delaying this project?
It would seem that residents of the Monrovia area are enduring extra months of snarled traffic NOT because "that is how long it takes to replace a bridge" but because some one person at the state level didn't care to do their job in a manor that would reduce additional burden on thousands of taxpayers and apparently because no one at the local level was willing to call them out on this.
Where we stand now ...
The county engineer is hoping that the concrete slabs will be delivered "in a couple more weeks".
Then construction can once again resume.
Swell.
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