Cement Contractors Baffled By Muni's Delays on N-Judah Line Fix

Muni's official explanation for the delay is that "the concrete being used in the project is not hardening as quickly as designed." At the moment, neither Muni nor contractor Shimmick have a working rationale as to why the cement did not dry at Sunset and Judah but did dry at 19th and Judah. It's a beguiling situation, and several cement contractors contacted by SF Weekly were at a loss to explain the delay -- without using lots of profanity.

"They fucked up!" said one contractor of the weekend job. "The weather was ideal all weekend. It should have set." 

Needless to say, Muni isn't seeing things quite this way. Spokesman Judson True told us that he'll get back to us as soon as there's some sort of answer for why the cement didn't dry. Our calls to Shimmick have not yet been returned.

While True said he believed Shimmick did use some manner of "accelerant" in the concrete mix to speed drying, the contractors we spoke with were amazed by this notion.

"Waiting for two days [for the concrete to dry], that's not even in the ballpark. That's a day and a half too long," said one. "You can put accelerant in it and -- pronto -- you can drive over it in 30 minutes if you wanted to."

Added another, "When we do roadwork for the city, we can only dig from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. We have to be ready by 3 p.m. for buses and everything. And we put accelerant in there that the concrete dries so fast if you don't get your feet out you'll have to take your boots off, that's how fast it dries."

As of noon today, the affected area on Sunset and Judah features an 80-foot-long, 24-foot-wide gap around the four railroad tracks. True said the concrete in question is holding the tracks in place and the gap will soon be filled in by "temporary pavement." The project will require two more weekends of work. This morning's commute went smoothly, according to True.

The current set of fixes is expected to be done by early tomorrow. Yet if it isn't, Tuesday's predicted rainstorms won't help matters.

"The concrete should be sealed up enough to keep out any" moisture, said one contractor with experience working roads and bridges for Caltrans. "But if it's still open or there's an open hole, they'll have to go through all their compaction tests again. That could be a problem."

Photo   |   Jim Herd