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Build Break Build

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There doesn’t seem to be any let up in the continuous breaking and building of roads all over the land anymore, as government contractors relentlessly close down lanes in order to “repair” infrastructure that most of us never noticed was broken in the first place.

Whenever the government started closing down roads in certain parts of our towns and cities, I’d make a mental note to avoid the affected area because of the usual traffic slow down and inconvenience that comes with road repairs.

What I’ve noticed lately is that the road repairs have become more common, and avoiding these activities is becoming more difficult. More stretches of perfectly decent roads are being “repaired” and while that could be seen as a good thing for some, the more cynical ones among us see more of the inconvenience and the potential kickbacks galore.

The beauty of a “broken” road for a government that has become an expert at “building” mostly roads, is that it is one of the simplest yet most visible projects to undertake. All we need is a contractor who knows how to break concrete, haul away the broken chunks of taxpayer-funded infrastructure, and then prepare the ground for newly poured taxpayer-funded infrastructure that essentially does the same exact thing but with less signs of natural aging.

The job is simple, the profit margins easily calculated, and based on our experience with our government’s zeal in the Build, Break, Build cycle, it is a highly sustainable way of providing income and employment for those involved. Plus, it also makes government look busy, as if its officials are doing something good with the taxes some of us have no choice but to pay.

The problem with this endless cycle of road building is that aside from less cracks because the concrete is newly poured, we rarely see any other improvements. If you come to think of it, a few months after the “repair” it feels like nothing has happened. Everything else is usually the same: traffic flow, bad sidewalks and the propensity for flooding are still there. The blatant illegal parking, illegal vendors and utility poles that were haphazardly scattered all over, don’t go away. The only thing that tangibly improves is the profitability of those involved in the project.

It would be nice to see roads actually being improved instead of simply being endlessly repaired or just widened. At the most basic, such repairs should be coordinated with any related plans for flood prevention infrastructure. There should also be considerations so that sidewalks can be improved for the sake of pedestrians and if bike lanes could be integrated into the design so whatever repairs can also result in improvements.

The problem with coordination and actual urban planning is that such concepts are a little more complicated than simply breaking the target road, hauling away concrete chunks, flattening the ground and pouring new concrete.

It looks like we will have to wait for our government and its contractors to master the art of the Build Build Build before we see them level up and build according to a masterplan that has the comprehensive improvement of the transportation sector and society in general as the goal.

That is the problem we have with the “national roads” and “local roads” system where there is absolutely no coordination between the corresponding government officials. The national road people are from the Department of Public Works and Highways who rarely care about local concerns or initiatives since most local officials don’t have master plans anyway and are just happy to see roads being repaired or built because it makes them look like they are busy doing something.

To be fair to the people constantly breaking and building roads, they are simply doing their job. The contractor doesn’t know of any plan because they are just following the specifications and instructions. Their only concern is how thick and how long they have to make it, and probably how much they have to give for the SOP and continued businesses.

Seeing how we are still stuck at the pouring concrete stage of building a decent transportation system for our society in the year 2022 is sad, especially if you compare what our towns and cities are doing compared to their more progressive and sustainable peers in other parts of the world, where the focus is shifting a car-centric system to a people-based one where pedestrians and other forms of green and active transport are being given priority.

When will we start building important components of a transport system that isn’t designed to conveniently break all the time?*

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