On 21st Av and 4th St. – Two steps forward one step back

A few days ago I took a picture through the blue spruce of the curbing that had been set into the big dig at my intersection. It suggested a speedy end to the month of construction.

It was not to be so speedy after all. My wife’s sister and family came up for a visit on Thursday where a brand new hole had been dug in the filled in excavation. There were huge yellow tubes laying on the ground nearby. My sister-in-law’s husband said they were probably gas pipes. He said they were bumble bee yellow for a reason.

Sure enough some of the workers told me that after they had laid the original gas lines the massive concrete sewer passages had been poured above them. Inspectors came around and made the gas specialists dig their smaller pipes out from under the tunnels to reroute them where they would be less prone to crushing by the massive sewers above. They told me it would likely add a week to the completion of this phase of the project at our busy intersection.

This morning it looks like the hole having been refilled is getting leveled for a big concrete pour.

Progress always has its steps backward.

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