re: Good news, the Bluebonnet overlay work should be completed by Feb 2026

quote:

---

Ahhh the (planned) unplanned change order. Now the construction company can actually make what it costs to repair instead of their low bid to secure the job.

---

This is a huge part of the problem with road construction in LA. It’s a vicious cycle:

- Shitty local contractor submits a low bid while larger, more capable companies submit realistic bids.

- Shitty local contractor wins the job.

- Shitty local contractor doesn’t have enough money in their budget to complete the job, has quality issues, and can’t meet schedule deadlines.

- Shitty local contractor gets dinged with liquidated damages for schedule delays and hit with a bunch of rework.

- Shitty local contractor uses political buddies in the legislature, governor’s office, etc. to make the LDs and quality problems go away while also getting their change order requests approved. After all, it would be horrible if the state put a locally owned company out of business..

- Shitty local contractor suffers no consequences at all, reinforcing their strategy of submitting low, shitty bids.

- Rinse & repeat.