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

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A competent entity could create a two mile road out of a patch of wilderness in less than two years.

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This actually tends to be a lot easier than rebuilding an existing, heavily used and developed thoroughfare. Assuming the terrain isn’t something crazy.

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God I hope they fix the drainage. That Nicholson asphalt was only 12 years old when it had to be ripped up. I remember commuting on it when it was being re-done back in 2010. That’s practically brand new by Louisiana standards. It’s a good bet the standing water issue caused it to age faster.

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Nope, no drainage fixing. Just adjusting catch basins back to grade. There’s a little drainage going in at the end where it meets airline but that’s it

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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.

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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.