A Lecture to Civil Contractors

How to Run Civil Work on Roads (Stop the Large Batch Waste)

This is probably just a little bit of a rant podcast. You’ll probably hear a condescending tone from me because I’m super annoyed. I just drove from Atlanta, Georgia, all the way to Phoenix and I am horrified, absolutely horrified.

We’ve all heard about the bullet train, the train to nowhere in California that was supposed to be finished in 2020. Now it’s going to be somewhere around 2030. It was originally going to be around $33 billion. Now it’s going to be somewhere upwards of, no, it’s north of $100 billion, probably $130 billion. It’s absolutely out of control. In China, they can do it for a third of the time and a third of the costs.

And I am just out of this world appalled at civil roadwork in the United States. I mean, it’s literally like nobody’s ever been taught how to do this. I’m going to go ahead and do a little bit of a lecture for everybody out there in the civil world so that you know exactly how to build.

The Pain of Large Batch Civil Roadwork

Here’s what I saw. I’m going through, I think it’s Midland. The entire freaking city from side to side is under road construction. Literally, I probably without exaggeration, at least saw 150 miles worth of worthless traffic control, worthless K-rail, worthless open active construction sites not being worked on because of sheer ignorance, laziness, and incompetence.

You have to stop opening up so much roadway. You are wasting so much money on K-rail or what people call Jersey barrier and open earth with your stormwater pollution prevention plans and literally just burning diesel, driving from one end to the other, instead of finishing in segments.

And you’re going to say the exact thing to me, like concrete contractors say, “Oh, well, it’s because of concrete. We have to have large deck sizes. We have to have large batch sizes.” Are you telling me that the batch plant and the asphalt can’t be procured in any other batch size than the whole effing city? Come on.

The Lesson We Learned 100 Years Ago (And Forgot)

Like literally this is like a lesson that was learned like 100 years ago. My grandpa used to tell me stories about his grandpa going down into Los Angeles and recovering civil projects. And they would have miles of trench open for utilities and it would be blocking all these residences, houses, and they’d be complaining. And the soil was bad. It would be caving in and it would rain and they would have to repair it. It would shut down traffic. And it’s just a nightmare.

And my great-great-great, I think it’s three greats grandpa came in and was like, “We need to work in sections. We need to only open up what we need and stop opening up the whole damn section” and literally recovered the project. And they were able to shore it properly. They were able to deal with the soil. And so that’s like a lesson, like 101, you learn this 101 in scheduling and in production.

This is large batch at its worst. Do you know how much money you’re spending on mobilizing that much K-rail? Do you know how much money you’re spending renting it? Do you know how much money you’re spending mass grading and letting it get damaged and having to regrade it? Do you know how much money you are spending burning diesel from one end to the other, because you want these wide open spaces? Do you know how much money you’re spending on SWPPP? Do you know how much money you’re spending on traffic control? Do you know how much of a burden you’re being to the public?

This is out of control and there’s not anything even being done on the roadway. This is ridiculous. And I can’t believe that we’re doing this.

The Right Way: Work in Segments and Finish Before Moving Forward

You work in segments and if you have to build bridges or you have major infrastructure projects, then do those as isolated individual projects and then let the roadway literally intersect with it. There’s no specs, no grading specs, no design requirements that make you leave all of that dirt open for years. There’s nothing that will require you to do that. I would say 70 to 80 percent of what you’re charging the client is absolute waste with batching. It’s absolutely out of this world.

You need to open up, I would even go with you, even if you’re like, “I’m going to open up a mile or two.” Even if you’re like, “I’m going to go open up a mile or two.” I disagree with it. I think you should open up a lot less than that. I think max a quarter of a mile. Even if you said to me, “Jason, I’m going to open up a mile or two of roadway and work in segments.” Okay, you know, whatever. I understand you have a little bit of workable backlog and a buffer.

But you’re opening up tens of like 20, 30, 40, 50 freaking miles of freaking roadway to do improvements that you’re not even working on. Then you reduce the speed limit and then you affect all of the drivers and you are wasting all of that money. And then we’re worried about having a worker shortage and a resource shortage. I know where everybody’s resources are. Everybody’s resources are on a damn road somewhere trying to make repairs across 30 freaking miles. And all of the people are out there mobilizing K-rail and filling up freaking equipment that’s not being used across the 30, 40, 50 mile expanse. It’s absolutely ridiculous.

Here’s how to do it right:

• Open up a segment – Max a quarter mile, or if you want a mile or two with workable backlog that’s better than 50 miles
• Grade the thing and get it stabilized – Even if you left it for a couple of months, even if you’re waiting for the rainy season so that it could stabilize, I totally understand that
• Pave right behind it – Finish all of your hardscape up, make sure your as-builts are done, intersects with bridges and your major infrastructure projects
• Open that segment of roadway – Move the K-rail and the traffic control forward, don’t utilize so damn much of it that it’s all wasted

Literally what’s happening. The traffic control company wants to rent it all. The K-rail companies want to rent it all. And the superintendents want to be lazy and just have massive areas open. The equipment operators want wide open spaces and everybody just wants to soak the system dry. Meanwhile, the United States infrastructure and all of the people are suffering.

The Disrespect for People on the Road

Do you know how many segments of worthless, non-active traffic improvements I’ve been through with stupid signage? Like literally I’m driving right now between Tucson and Phoenix. There’s been like 30, 55 mile per hour signs near no improvements, no active construction, no absolute reason, no consistency. Everybody’s just blowing through it. What are you doing?

That literally reminds me the other day of a road improvement. They were doing paving. I don’t even know exactly what they were doing. I was appalled at the traffic control. Literally civil contractors are so lazy nowadays. I shouldn’t say lazy. The processes are so lazy and they’re so ill-educated about how to do this that literally they’ll go repave a road or they’ll cap it or they’ll do whatever improvements they’re doing to it. And they won’t even give you temporary guidelines for the lanes. It’s the most dangerous thing I’ve ever seen in my life.

And the traffic control is freaking everywhere, everywhere, literally hitting the mirrors on cars and scratching paint. There’s no respect for a person. There’s no respect for the motorists. There’s no respect for people in this economy trying to go from end to end. There’s no respect for truckers that have to deal with this every day. There’s no even thought. Traffic control not even thinking about the people on the road when most of the injuries, literally millions of deaths happen on the roadway. We’re not even paying attention literally because of bad processes, bad teaching, and nobody being brought up anymore these days. If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

A Challenge for Civil Contractors

Here’s what I want you to do this week. Stop opening up 50 miles of roadway. Work in segments. Max a quarter mile. Grade it. Stabilize it. Pave it. Finish it. Open it. Move the K-rail forward. Don’t waste money on renting K-rail for inactive sites. Don’t waste money on traffic control for 50 miles when you’re only working on 2 miles. Don’t burn diesel driving from one end to the other. Don’t leave open earth for years.

The civil industry has completely lost its mind. Airlines, the freeways, civil contractors, you have lost your mind. I can’t even believe I’m seeing what I’m seeing here. Large batch is the dumbest damn thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life. I’m so sick of this, America. I love you, wake up. You have no idea what you’re doing and you’re going to blame it on everybody else. No, it wasn’t. It’s a lack of good thinking. It’s a lack of education and everybody’s running around proud to not read a book and go to a training or to even get any kind of education and to learn how things are actually done. It’s embarrassing.

As we say at Elevate, civil roadwork wastes money on large batch: miles of K-rail, open earth, traffic control for inactive sites. Work in segments, finish before moving forward. That’s how you respect people and stop wasting money. Civil contractors, step it up. You’re absolutely an embarrassment to the United States. I can’t believe I had to go through this. I want to see us step it up.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is large batch civil roadwork a problem?

Because you’re opening up 50 miles of roadway when you’re only working on 2 miles. You waste money on K-rail rental, traffic control, diesel, SWPPP, regrading damaged earth, and equipment sitting idle across the expanse. It’s 70-80% waste.

How should civil contractors work on roads?

Work in segments. Open max a quarter mile. Grade it, stabilize it, pave it, finish it, open it. Move the K-rail forward. Don’t open 50 miles when you’re only working 2 miles.

Why don’t civil contractors work in smaller segments?

Because traffic control companies want to rent it all, K-rail companies want to rent it all, superintendents want massive areas open, and equipment operators want wide open spaces. Everybody wants to soak the system dry.

What about bridges and major infrastructure projects?

Do those as isolated individual projects and let the roadway intersect with them. There’s no spec that requires leaving all the dirt open for years. Finish segments before moving forward.

Why is this disrespectful to people?

Because you reduce speed limits for 50 miles of inactive construction. You create traffic control that hits mirrors and scratches paint. You don’t provide temporary lane guidelines after repaving. You don’t respect motorists, truckers, or people trying to get from end to end.