Got asked to bid a very unusual project

[Hay Dude]

I was just kidding about the Bog Turtles, likewise the Coast Guard and the Army corp of engineers.
The stuff people come up with here, may be well intended, is so over the top, I actually share it with guys I work with to get a chuckle.

If they give me the job, I’m showing up with tools, doing the job and that’s it. Ain nobody gonna give a rats ass unless it‘s some fruitcake with a butterfly net-and that’s not impossible these days.

For real though-if you want to build here near wetlands, you have to have it swept for Bog Turtles

 

[MossRoad]

Funny story:
I came home from work one day and there was a white car parked near my gate and man in a pith helmet with a clipboard on his hands and knees in the ditch across the street. I got out and asked what he was doing. He explained that Verizon was going to trench a cable up the road and he was looking to see if any endangered species would be affected. Said he was looking for checker spotted butterflies. When asked if found any he replied no. I turned and pointed to my truck, Well there's about 50 of them plastered on the front of that truck over there and 10 more I tried to wash off the windshield. You better check your car too...

One of my nephews has a job inspecting building sites for all species. I think he said if it's a dry area, he has to do so many 1 meter squares per acre. If it appears to be wetland, he has to do more squares per acre. He enjoys the job. Just go out and see what he finds. Go back to the office and do the paperwork. He gets sent all over the midwest.

 

[Hay Dude]

Funny story:
I came home from work one day and there was a white car parked near my gate and man in a pith helmet with a clipboard on his hands and knees in the ditch across the street. I got out and asked what he was doing. He explained that Verizon was going to trench a cable up the road and he was looking to see if any endangered species would be affected. Said he was looking for checker spotted butterflies. When asked if found any he replied no. I turned and pointed to my truck, Well there's about 50 of them plastered on the front of that truck over there and 10 more I tried to wash off the windshield. You better check your car too...

I see someone wearing a “pith helmet”, I’m runnin the other way.

 

[bigtiller]

Before Sprint could sign off on building a cell phone tower, they sent a crew to scout for endangered species and another crew to look for ancient artifacts. All that time and money and they never did build the tower. Some years later they rented a spot atop the new Verizon tower.

 

[MoKelly]

We had a group wanting to build a new indoor tennis facility on land in STL. Would be the first indoor courts in STL in 50+ years.

They figured it would cost $20 million and had about half committed in donations from the bigger companies in the City. They were riding the wave of the desire to provide opportunities to underserved communities.

They were told by the City they had to prepare an economic impact report. Then an environmental impact report. Then a study on if there was asbestos and/or lead paint in the falling down abandon buildings on the proposed site. The “companies” providing these reports had to be located in STL and, preferably, minority owned. Then commit to finding and using 75% minority contractors on the construction.

There was even more.

The project was never begun and the abandoned asbestos/lead paint buildings are still there falling even more apart.

It’s not easy to understand.

STL still has no indoor tennis facility.

 

[Hay Dude]

We had a group wanting to build a new indoor tennis facility on land in STL. Would be the first indoor courts in STL in 50+ years.

They figured it would cost $20 million and had about half committed in donations from the bigger companies in the City. They were riding the wave of the desire to provide opportunities to underserved communities.

They were told by the City they had to prepare an economic impact report. Then an environmental impact report. Then a study on if there was asbestos and/or lead paint in the falling down abandon buildings on the proposed site. The “companies” providing these reports had to be located in STL and, preferably, minority owned. Then commit to finding and using 75% minority contractors on the construction.

There was even more.

The project was never begun and the abandoned asbestos/lead paint buildings are still there falling even more apart.

It’s not easy to understand.

STL still has no indoor tennis facility.

Sounds familiar, like a microcosm of the federal gov___ment

 

[plowhog]

The “companies” providing these reports had to be located in STL and, preferably, minority owned. Then commit to finding and using 75% minority contractors on the construction.

My company used to do technology projects for the State of CA. Then a new imposition came along requiring minority owned participation in all contracts.

The only way we could complete the contracts we had already been awarded was to go find some minority-owned company, somewhere, and subcontract the installation of network cabling throughout the buildings. Implementing and configuring the network equipment was so specialized and technical that it was impractical to train a subcontractor for weeks or months to do a job our company could complete in a week or two.

The subcontractor work was a disaster. We gritted our teeth, paid them in full, said "thanks" and "bye." Then our company removed and pulled out all the deficient wiring they had installed. We had our people re-do that part of the job, and install everything, brand new, correctly. At our expense.

That was the last State of CA job we ever did. Afterward, the State got fleeced by contractors charging 3x, 5x, etc. to make up for the added costs the new hurdles caused. But it was no longer my fight as I had a business to run and a payroll to meet. I could not engage in nonsense contracts.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

And that is the clown world we live in.

 

[kwbobwi]

So this is a recently abandoned railway in my town. We have hundreds of them here in the rust belt. Unfortunately, with their abandonment comes a lack of maintenance. I would think they would still have to maintain this, but owner tells me they won’t.
So I have been asked to remove this log jamb.
I have my ideas, but thought some backround information would be helpful.

There is no access from the RR bridge. It is closed off and off limits, so debris cannot be removed from there.
On the right side of the picture, the land you see is mush. You cannot realistically get equipment to the edge of the river from there.
On the left side of the picture, there is a “ledge” of ground. You can get a pickup down there, but not much bigger without cutting/building an access path.

View attachment 848250



My thought was to rent a crane with a clamshell bucket and an operator and have him “grapple” the logs and swing them over into a waiting debris truck. The crane would sit where you see the foot tracks in the foreground.


Water is fairly deep and current fairly strong. The width of the water from the center of the rail bridge center support to the edge of each bank is about 50’ of water.

Thoughts?

A long reach excavator with a thumb or log clam would be the best.
In my area you need permits to do any work on anything from ditches to rivers

 

[BigBlue1]

Before Sprint could sign off on building a cell phone tower, they sent a crew to scout for endangered species and another crew to look for ancient artifacts. All that time and money and they never did build the tower. Some years later they rented a spot atop the new Verizon tower.

And people wonder why everything is so expensive these days. The level of ridiculousness our society has reached is impressive.