Friday, June 30, 2017

Grid Control, Vol. 10: City officials predictably AWOL as HWC Engineering falls on its sword over striping errors.


You know, the striping errors first brought to the community's attention here at NA Confidential, about which we informed newspaper management, which might repay the favor by acknowledging the tip. If this blog and its friends hadn't been paying attention, would the newspaper?

I think you already know the answer, but small victories, people.

Holding contractors responsible for their work, if not a fluke in this instance, would represent a huge shift in the city's institutional monetization culture, but let's not forget that the design submitted by the engineers at City Hall's clueless direction is a colossal missed opportunity in terms of bicycling infrastructure.

Meanwhile, baseball Hall of Famer Jim Rice of HWC flails and prevaricates, but eventually settles into the litany. Oddly, as he focuses on a "particular location on Spring Street" near 10th, there is no reference to church curb striping controversies, as we referenced yesterday.

And the parking depth shortfall affects "five spots"? That's hooey. The disparity is consistent on the north side of Spring all the way all the way from Vincennes to State, albeit it with different defaults when the bike lanes cease at 4th.

And by the way, Jim, those traffic lanes outside my house are 10 feet, not 11. They should have been 10 feet throughout downtown, but Jeffrey's scared of the trucking lobby, isn't he?

Engineering firm to pay for, fix error spotted in New Albany street conversion striping, by Elizabeth Beilman (Mews and Tribune)

Mistakes affect Spring Street striping

NEW ALBANY — Engineers who designed New Albany’s two-way street conversion are paying for the likely more than $10,000 in costs to fix a striping error they made.

Hannum, Wagle & Cline Engineering is evaluating ways to correct bicycle buffer lanes between the vehicle lane and parking spots on the north side of Spring Street ...

 ... (Rice) said an HWC technician simply drew the lines in the opposite direction — and it was missed during reviews.

“If we design something and we make a mistake … we want to fix it,” Rice said, adding a few people with the firm “feel terrible right now.”

Engineers are evaluating whether to modify the width of some parking spots along Spring Street, as well. Drivers of some cars and trucks have been unable to fit their vehicles inside the spots, wheels parked over the marked line on the pavement. Rice said it affects about five spots.

In that case, contractor Ragle Inc. didn’t follow design plans properly, Rice said.

When the reporter Beilman tried to get a comment out of Jeff Gahan's City Hall, the spokesman (Mike Hall?) referred her to HWC. That's chickenshit, isn't it? Then again, when your own people missed the errors, too ...

Small victories. Microscopic, but still.

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Previously:

Grid Control, Vol. 9: "This was supposed to be discussed with us," but Dear Leader doesn't ever discuss, does he?

Grid Control, Vol. 8: City Hall characteristically mum as HWC Engineering at least tries to answer the cross-hatching question.

Grid Control, Vol. 7: What will the Board of Works do to rectify HWC's striping errors on the north side of Spring Street, apart from microwaving another round of sausage biscuits?

Grid Control, Vol. 6: Jeff Speck tweets about NA's grid changes, and those missed bicycling opportunities.

Grid Control, Vol. 5: Egg on HWC Engineering's well-compensated face as it botches Spring Street's westbound bike buffer cross hatching.

Grid Control, Vol. 4: But this actually isn't a bus lane, is it?


Grid Control, Vol. 3: TARC's taking your curbside church parking, says City Hall.


Grid Control, Vol. 2: Southsiders get six more parking inches, but you gotta love those 10-foot traffic lanes on Spring.


Grid Control, Vol. 1: You people drive so freaking horribly that someone's going to die at Spring and 10th.

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