Offenbach: Construction site annoys commuters – “Never see a single worker there”

• Building site on the Mühlheimer Strasse in Offenbach annoys commuters
• Renovation progresses only in small steps
• The city service rejects the criticism

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Offenbach – The commuter is audibly annoyed: “Traffic jam, traffic jam, traffic jam – whether in the morning or in the evening.” He forgets at noon. And like countless other drivers, he is stuck at what feels like a permanent bottleneck: Mühlheimer Straße / corner of Kettelerstraße. If an expensive canal construction slowed down traffic there, it is currently a bridge renovation. And what particularly bothers him: “I never see a single worker there.”

The city service rejects this as the client of the construction project. On the bridge structure above the former industrial railway, work is being carried out in many sections on small areas. This work does not take all day. “If you take a closer look, you can see that the structure changes daily: the asphalt is removed, the welding track underneath is pushed off, the concrete underneath is milled, then blasted, new concrete is applied, which can only be processed with a certain residual moisture,” explains Thomas Möller the first steps.

Construction site on Mühlheimer Straße in Offenbach annoys commuters: A logistical problem

“Then an epoxy resin coating is applied and a new double-layer welding track. This is followed by a poured asphalt sealing layer to protect the structure against the ingress of chlorides, and at the very end the poured asphalt top layer. ”Phew, the head of road construction at the city service goes into quite a bit of detail.

But back to the initial criticism: “These are tasks that each of them is done on these small areas within two to three hours. After that, the material first has to harden, dry … And then, for those who are stuck in a traffic jam, nothing actually happens that can be observed. ”

In addition, according to Möller: The contracted company not only works on one construction site, but on several at the same time, so it cannot move its entire machine park, which would be necessary for the subsequent work, on Mühlheimer Straße to continue working immediately. This is therefore a logistical problem. The company is also repairing the asphalt of the outer tracks in a section because there are still bumps. Möller: “The inner traces are finished beforehand. Ultimately, the work should be completed on July 8th. ”

Construction site in Offenbach annoys motorists: “It still has to be faster”

“It still has to go faster,” says the inclined driver. Why are night or weekend work apparently a taboo for city service when placing orders? “First of all, when planning noise-intensive construction measures, one should of course also take into account the concerns of other citizens and the emissions that arise,” Möller points out. “Who wants to have noisy construction machines and trucks in front of their bedroom window for a week at night? The answer is quickly found. “

Apart from that, appropriate permits are required not only here in Offenbach, but also where the asphalt mix is ​​created at the mixing plant. “As a rule, only a certain number of night assignments are approved here each year,” says the graduate engineer. Night construction sites are a possible alternative outside of cities, “only in the inner city area where it is absolutely necessary.”

Construction site in Offenbach bothers commuters: Are night construction sites an option?

At the intersection of Untere Grenzstrasse and Mühlheimer Strasse, the city service had built for the first time at night and on public holidays about four years ago – previously this was an absolute taboo for the reasons mentioned. Personnel expenses should also be included. Möller: “You also need appropriate personnel in construction supervision who are then not available during the day. In addition, no additional personnel will be hired for this purpose – overall for a manageable period. “

The additional costs (for the column with machines, trucks, milling machines and more) would be around ten percent. The size of the lots or construction sections is more important for the experts. “A factor that is often underestimated,” says Thomas Möller. Often one would like to keep the construction sites relatively small in order to meet the needs of individual road users wherever possible. What is overlooked is the fact that the remodeling and setting up a new measure also takes time that cannot be used productively. “Time that road users also need to cope with the disabilities and – this is a very crucial point – with a new changed traffic situation.” BY MARTIN KUHN

Every day, more than 100 mostly heavy trucks roll over the “Kipferl” intersection in Rödermark-Ober-Roden (Offenbach district) – often only a few meters away from the bedrooms of the residents.

In In 2020, Offenbach will have extensive road network renovations*. Motorists are at risk of becoming stressful.

* op-online.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network.

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