A 11 Mystery

Now you see it – now you don't

Congratulations to the EDP of 22 August for providing the impressive 
overhead views of the A11 dual carriageway work between Thetford and 
Barton Mills. According to the report, the Secretary of State for 
Transport, Patrick McLoughlin was impressed with the work that had been 
carried out.


The Secretary of State is very easily impressed.


Thearticle did contain one glaring error. Preliminary work started in 
June 2012 -- not in Jan 2013 as the EDP stated. The scheduled finish 
date is Winter 2014.


I know this because for a long time I was convinced the completion date 
was December 2013 and not as it is still more than a year away.


Anyway you care to slice it, they are taking two and a half years to 
build a 9.1 mile road with one small stream to cross and one village to 
be by-passed. That's about 3 and a half months per mile! Oh, yes did I 
mention it's as flat as a pancake?


One wonders which geniuses planned this work. Surely the Elveden by-pass 
section should have been done first. It would have been opened by now - 
greatly easing the congestion and inconvenience.


I seldom travel this road, but recently went to London and back twice in 
a week. I counted the number of men working to complete this project. 
There were 4.2 men per mile. With a workforce numbering that high the 
Great Wall of China would just about be half finished!


Never mind the cost – now estimated at £102 million.  Don't forget this is for only half a carriageway – except for the Elveden by-pass section only one new carriageway will be built – the rest will utilise the existing A 11.
Today they are falling all over themselves and breaking their arms trying to pat themselves on the back because they think they might be “ahead of schedule”. What a laugh!  (Note they are still predicting a winter 2014 opening date.)  The momentous news today is they might open one section of the carriageway whilst they do some work on the other. I may be sick!
Sorry the idiots who plan the work should be shot.  The idiots who do the work are just in cahoots with the others.  “Let's drag the work out for as long as possible – we can employ far fewer workers and have lots of tea breaks.”
it's a disgrace.!