Excavate, layer work, stabilise, black-top surfacing, kerbing, power, traffic signals (8 of) and road marking........Traffic signal intersection complete at approximately R 2,3 million. The finest in traffic engineering and road construction for ease of traffic flow and user comfort!
Nine out of ten times this pleasure is short lived and the unthinkable happens. Within a week or two (or three);
flagman slow traffic, orange cones appear, signs reroute traffic (normally from two lanes to one...in oncoming traffic), industrial cutters run across the road and mighty jackhammers pound away at the new tar surface.
A week later two sleeves (
a tube that surrounds and protects, allows a cable or pipe to be drawn through...) are installed, back filled and the trench compacted.
A sigh of relieve, traffic flow is re-established, however bumpy but bliss....days later the unthinkable is repeated. This time to fill the hollowed out trench to its former glory (or not).
Considering all, would it - could it not have been done during construction? I recall a statement made by one of my senior lecturers during my 3rd year: "...sleeves cost relatively little to install, so make sure you detail and specify sufficient not only for current requirements, but for future use".
The cost of a 110dia sleeve is approximately R 100 per meter installed (compared to the R 2,3mil). There is no need to know the future, to guess that additional/new services might cross the road...
assume that additional services
will be required (and will cross the road) and provide additional sleeves. WHY can this not be included as part of planning and construction? Is planning, on a very basic level, not defined by taking cognisance of the future?
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