\GoBillsInDallas/ Posted October 11, 2015 Share Posted October 11, 2015 http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/buffalo/higgins-backs-peace-bridge-officials-call-for-a-new-companion-bridge-20151010 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted October 11, 2015 Share Posted October 11, 2015 I crossed the peace bridge two Fridays ago. It was smoother than it ever was despite the whole passport thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloBill Posted October 11, 2015 Share Posted October 11, 2015 My last crossing, now over a year ago, the agents on both sides acted as though it was a pain in their collective asses that anyone was crossing. Sadly, it seems that the terrorists won on 9-11. What used to be a relatively simple and even friendly process has now become a hassle for everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted October 11, 2015 Share Posted October 11, 2015 $300 million to build? Awwww isn't that cute. http://www.wnyc.org/story/316201-brief-history-64-billion-bay-bridge/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 $300 million to build? Awwww isn't that cute. http://www.wnyc.org/story/316201-brief-history-64-billion-bay-bridge/ Wow, what crappy return on the taxpayer's dollar... 64 BILLION? I didn't catch if that Bay Bridge was a toll bridge? Probably is... Man! Nothing like the good old days. My work site was built for 6 million... 6 million in 1960. Now a 60 day closure costs the economy 18 million. That's a hell of return! AND they want to close it down and spend BILLIONS... Wow, gov't and enviros gone bad! 64 billion, they can replumb the whole Chicago Area Waterways they have been engineering for 100+ years AND have 40 billion leftover! 300 million like you said is cute... And cheap! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike in Horseheads Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 (edited) Most likely could have had several bridges by now if people would have been happy with a plain bridge ole bridge it had to be a "signature bridge". Edited October 12, 2015 by Mike in Horseheads Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 Wow, what crappy return on the taxpayer's dollar... 64 BILLION? I didn't catch if that Bay Bridge was a toll bridge? Probably is... Man! You may want to reread that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 You may want to reread that. I will... Been super busy here... Dammit! Have to cut something out, work more likely! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 I will... Been super busy here... Dammit! Have to cut something out, work more likely! All you have do reread is the title. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 (edited) All you have do reread is the title. Oops! Pesky decimal points! he he... I read the URL and skipped the title... Ha! Edited October 12, 2015 by ExiledInIllinois Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marv's Neighbor Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 It's over 80 years old. I used to work there during the summer when I was going to school. That was in the late 60's when it was half its age, and we used to have to close the bridge at night to coordinate heavy truck loads crossing. I don't recall this much talk when they added the Grand Island bridges. The Peace Bridge has huge economic benefits for WNY, and seems to be a no-brainer to upgrade or add an additional span, sooner rather than later. Remove the government and politicians from the equation and get it done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 Not much of problem one the bridge span is only in one country... I know we all want to blame NYS, and rightly so... BUT things do become problematic when dealing with two countries. I am not making excuses, but it is a heavily used bridge and everybody has an opinion. Simply kick the can down the road because biting the bullet on something is going to be a royal PITA (pain in the ass). Mix in money, bickering who's gonna pay and you get stalemate. I see it everyday @ work. Heavily used infrastructure that is ready to fall into the water, yet nobody wants to do anything because the cost and inconvenience will be gr8 while the current rate of taxpayer return is beneficial. You know what? Sometimes one has to make a choice and move forward, no matter how paralyzed the situation appears. Time to stop second guessing and just do something... Anything, because before you know it, it will be falling into the water... AND that will will be an even greater PITA, for sure! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkyMannn Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 My opinion, tough to B word about bridge capacity when it seems like half the inspection booths are closed at any given time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GG Posted October 13, 2015 Share Posted October 13, 2015 $300 million to build? Awwww isn't that cute. http://www.wnyc.org/story/316201-brief-history-64-billion-bay-bridge/ I think we have you beat with a $4bn subway station. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted October 13, 2015 Share Posted October 13, 2015 I think we have you beat with a $4bn subway station. It's crazy how much these things cost. Someone's getting rich and we bend over and just accept the cost with no demand to see the accounting. They are adding 1.7 miles to the subway system here with a $2.2b budget which means it will run a LOT more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted October 13, 2015 Share Posted October 13, 2015 (edited) It's crazy how much these things cost. Someone's getting rich and we bend over and just accept the cost with no demand to see the accounting. They are adding 1.7 miles to the subway system here with a $2.2b budget which means it will run a LOT more.Where is the cost going? Labor? Engineering? Studys (enviro, etc...)? Safety? Materials? Handrailing alone @ work cost over 100,000 dollars last year. That's just material, thank God we are on the job and can install it in house, I could imagine what the cost for a private contractor would be to have it installed. All kinds of safety BS too when installing. Can't do this, can't do that... Have to do this, etc... Our last closure cost 6 million dollars... That's just for paint and replacing parts. Finding lead on parts was an enviro nightmare. Then there is safety training for the workforce, that was where the gov't was gouged too... One contractor came in and scaped a few flakes of lead off for testing... The price: $10,000. The whole damn place cost 6 million in 1960! We had a HVAC contractor come in and the contract was $400,000! For a boiler and a/c... They should have bulldozed the whole building! We could have got local bids for under 80k. We have a shelter (yes, a picnic shelter)... Designed when the gov't went to smoke-free work area. Engineering got innvolved and the plans ballooned to 4k! 4 THOUSAND dollars for a smoking shelter, we could have bought a pre-fab one @ Menard's or Home Depot for a grand! You should have seen these plans engineering dreamed up, it will withstand another Hurricane Katrina! There, thank God we built it in house, labor would have been 3 fold. Crazy... Mix in the perfect storm: Engineering, safety, enviro AND no common sense and you have this mess! Edited October 13, 2015 by ExiledInIllinois Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wacka Posted October 13, 2015 Share Posted October 13, 2015 Just build the damn thing. Stop wasting money on both sides of the border to keep relatives employed doing useless studies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted October 13, 2015 Share Posted October 13, 2015 Where is the cost going? Labor? Engineering? Studys (enviro, etc...)? Safety? Materials? Handrailing alone @ work cost over 100,000 dollars last year. That's just material, thank God we are on the job and can install it in house, I could imagine what the cost for a private contractor would be to have it installed. All kinds of safety BS too when installing. Can't do this, can't do that... Have to do this, etc... Our last closure cost 6 million dollars... That's just for paint and replacing parts. Finding lead on parts was an enviro nightmare. Then there is safety training for the workforce, that was where the gov't was gouged too... One contractor came in and scaped a few flakes of lead off for testing... The price: $10,000. The whole damn place cost 6 million in 1960! We had a HVAC contractor come in and the contract was $400,000! For a boiler and a/c... They should have bulldozed the whole building! We could have got local bids for under 80k. We have a shelter (yes, a picnic shelter)... Designed when the gov't went to smoke-free work area. Engineering got innvolved and the plans ballooned to 4k! 4 THOUSAND dollars for a smoking shelter, we could have bought a pre-fab one @ Menard's or Home Depot for a grand! You should have seen these plans engineering dreamed up, it will withstand another Hurricane Katrina! There, thank God we built it in house, labor would have been 3 fold. Crazy... Mix in the perfect storm: Engineering, safety, enviro AND no common sense and you have this mess! I want to see exactly where each penny of the taxpayers money is going. And to your HVAC point. That's exactly what I'm talking about. $400k of taxpayer money for $80k worth of work. I don't want to go all PPP here but the waste in government is astounding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike in Horseheads Posted October 13, 2015 Share Posted October 13, 2015 Where is the cost going? Labor? Engineering? Studys (enviro, etc...)? Safety? Materials? Handrailing alone @ work cost over 100,000 dollars last year. That's just material, thank God we are on the job and can install it in house, I could imagine what the cost for a private contractor would be to have it installed. All kinds of safety BS too when installing. Can't do this, can't do that... Have to do this, etc... Our last closure cost 6 million dollars... That's just for paint and replacing parts. Finding lead on parts was an enviro nightmare. Then there is safety training for the workforce, that was where the gov't was gouged too... One contractor came in and scaped a few flakes of lead off for testing... The price: $10,000. The whole damn place cost 6 million in 1960! We had a HVAC contractor come in and the contract was $400,000! For a boiler and a/c... They should have bulldozed the whole building! We could have got local bids for under 80k. We have a shelter (yes, a picnic shelter)... Designed when the gov't went to smoke-free work area. Engineering got innvolved and the plans ballooned to 4k! 4 THOUSAND dollars for a smoking shelter, we could have bought a pre-fab one @ Menard's or Home Depot for a grand! You should have seen these plans engineering dreamed up, it will withstand another Hurricane Katrina! There, thank God we built it in house, labor would have been 3 fold. Crazy... Mix in the perfect storm: Engineering, safety, enviro AND no common sense and you have this mess! I'm controller acting CFO of our NFP agency. NYS is always a issue but the "Sultan of Safety" within the agency drives everyone nuts and drives costs up on every project big or small. Then every time I get a non budgeted item he needs "its a safety issue". arghhhh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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