Big Pipes

Look how big these pipes are! That's what's going underneath I-94 right now that required the crane.

Pipes in a row

Standing next to the row

Communicating by hand signals to the crane operator

Back filling the pipe area

Now we'll be prepared for the worse storm of the next 150 years. (Seriously, that's how engineers figure how big the pipes should be for drainage.)

Safety

This is an iron worker on a structure, but you get the point. It's literally like this everyday. One mistake because you are too distracted or because you've done it 1000x a day, and bam. Death.

"A paycheck don't do you any good if you're dead."

Safety matters: Proper training, proper equipment, and proper technique at all times.


Today, I almost pulled out in front of a car going 70 mph. I just wasn't paying attention. Later in the day, a car in the construction zone was going 50 mph and almost ran into me as I was standing outside of my car. He saw my car, but not me. Luckily I saw him in time, and dodged. Always be aware of your surroundings.

Profiling

Whenever the police come around it's great. Lots of people slow down and give us plenty of space. Yet, some people, if they don't see the cop, are still speeding. But the cop doesn't stop them, they go merrily on their way. Why? It becomes obvious after a few state troopers that they aren't here for the speeding tickets, they are here for the drug busts.

Yet until like the speed gun, there is no drug gun. There is no way of telling who has drugs until you pull them over. People sometimes forget that when they hear about these great big drug busts on the news; a lot of people were pulled over to get that one drug smuggler.

A white dirt worker said it perfectly today, and it struck me in a certain profound way, especially for how politically incorrect most construction workers are:
"Damn, I wish dem cops start pulling over people speedin'. I understand they out here catchin' people carryin' drugs, but it makes me sick to watch 'em. Just last week I seen dem pull over 20 cars. But you know how they pick 'em? They pick the hippies, and the blacks. The mexcians too. I seen them take out the dogs on 'em and sniff their car all over. Almost all of them have campin' supplies with 'em. I wish they'd pull over a rich white person. Damn it ain't right. It just ain't right." 

 

This is a video of the traffic on I-94. Spoiler, they won't slow down.

4th of July!

Happy Independence Day 'Merica.

While there are tons of traditions that go along with this day, the one that impacts the economy the most is people taking the day off from work and traveling.

Did you know Michigan stops as much construction as possible for the 4th of July weekend? Not a single contractor is working this Friday on state jobs. (In Berrien anyway.)
Check it out: http://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,4616,7-151-51034-195267--,00.html

BUT HEY! They didn't open ALL of the closures. What gives?! Traffic closures that are remaining to be closed, well, let's just look at them:

- I-94, Berrien County, will have two lanes open in each direction from Sawyer to Bridgman. Okay, yeah this is 6 miles of new pavement, new drainage, and $15 million of other stuff. You can't just finish this up and open it to traffic. Those FIP don't need anymore lanes anyway.
- US-12, Berrien County, will have one lane open in each direction from Mayflower Road to M-139, between Buchanan and Niles. They haven't finished putting in a lane yet. And all of the cross-overs need to be paved. Yeah no.
- US-12 in New Buffalo, Berrien County, will have one lane open in each direction at the I-94 interchange. One lane will be open over the Galien River bridge east of Hoder Road. This is a reconstruct. Like all the concrete has been pulled out and they are doin' it over. That's a hellaton of work. There's nothing to open the traffic to. They can't have you drive on nothingness.

So they really did stop all construction that could be stopped. 



If you are traveling across the state, I recommend looking at the MiDrive map. Not only does it show construction projects currently up, but also accidents and the speed of the cars on the highway. This technology is starting to be used throughout the state more and more, with dynamic message boards going up on I-94. These board will tell you how long it will take to get to Detroit or other cities, as well as any other important information to our drivers. Pretty cool!
Check it out: http://mdotnetpublic.state.mi.us/drive/

MiDrive interface

Ticks

Source: http://www.mainelyme.org/

Ticks. Ticks are the ban of my existence. Three were on my today. I lost count of my ticks in order to maintain sanity. They are the most vile of insects. Blood-sucking, six-legged, disease-carrying drudgeries of the planet. As the truck driver put it, "Mosquitoes and ticks, I tell ya. Nature's vampires."

One day, I was working with a laborer who was.... unaccustomed to working with a young woman as an inspector and he was trying to frighten/gross me out with typical things that would scare young women. I had a bug on me, and one of the laborers got it off. Nonplussed, I thanked them.

"You ain't scared?"
"As long as it's not a tick."
"Oh ticks are nothing, I seen real big spiders round here. This big! Creeping and crawlin-"
"But ticks are densely populated in this area. They latch on."
"Pshh ticks! I've seen rats coming out of the sewer that can nibble on your--"
"Ticks latch on after crawling anywhere on your body, then start sucking your blood until they fill up like a balloon and waddle away. You find one, and try to take it out, it's head becomes dislodged in your skin. Sometimes only removal by surgery."
"Snakes!!! There are poisonous snakes in this area that you have to watch out for. They slither around in the grass. Just a few years ago, me and Jim were poking one in the grass and it coulda jumped and snapped---"
"Ticks carry LYME'S disease. That means with one bite you are looking at flu-like symptoms, joint pain, future heart problems, ect. The tick population is the record high in this area this year, and tons of the ticks carry lyme's disease. Snake? They don't have lyme's disease. And there aren't like 4 that crawl up and down you a day. The only way to prevent tick bites is checking over yourself throughout the day, wearing tight clothing, and spraying tons of deet."
"Oh wow, yeah, I better get some deet..."

After my first day of ticks, I thoroughly researched it and did this PSA whenever new laborers came on site and didn't freak out when someone had a tick on them, which was every often. The more you know~

Ticks and distracted drivers. Nothing in this world is more terrifying on a construction site.



For more information on ticks, check out these sources! 
 http://www.michiganradio.org/post/theres-tick-boom-michigan-here-are-5-things-you-should-know
 http://www.cdc.gov/lyme/