Just saw a sidewalk job in Portland that made me question basic standards

I was walking through the Pearl District last week and came across a new sidewalk pour that was already showing cracks. Not hairline cracks, but full separation at the control joints after what looked like maybe two months. The finish was way too slick for a public walkway, especially with our rain. It felt like they rushed the curing or used a bad mix ratio. I've been finishing for fifteen years and that kind of work gives us all a bad name. Has anyone else run into public jobs lately where the specs seem to have been totally ignored?

3 comments

3 Comments

quinncoleman2d ago

Yeah I heard the city's been going with the lowest bidder lately.

evan_davis2d ago

Tell me about it, our whole street got that cheap asphalt last year. It cracked after the first freeze and now it's full of potholes. You really do get what you pay for.

miles_robinson202d ago

The city actually has to take the lowest bid by law in most cases. The real problem is the bid specs being too loose. They'll ask for "asphalt mix" without setting the right thickness or quality rules, so contractors use the cheapest stuff that still technically meets the letter of the contract. It's a paperwork failure that shows up on our streets every winter.