The year is 2001. It is summer and the commute to work has doubled. Cellular telephones are drawn from hips and everyone is talking about why, at this time of day, roads swarm with construction activity.
If the proposed hours-of-service rules by the Department of Transportation are put into place, the possibility for longer and more frequent gridlocks exists, said a construction industry representative.Road work that now occurs at night and on weekends might be carried out during the daylight hours on weekdays next year because the proposed reforms would allow drivers to take longer uninterrupted rest periods.
DOT’s revisions requires all drivers, including those for road construction companies, to have “weekends” of at least 32 to 56 consecutive hours off duty, including two blocks running from midnight to 6 a.m. If new drivers are not hired to fill the void created when road crews go home, road projects will lag behind schedule, jeopardizing financial incentives the principle contractor was promised if work finished early.
“Most of your major projects that are done in high traffic areas continue to minimize the traffic congestion because they are done at night, weekends and off-peak hours,” said Brian Deery, senior director with the highway division of the Associated General Contractors of America.
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