Vandalism on Sheridan Costs Thousands of Dollars, Days of Delay

An incident of vandalism during the Sheridan Avenue Project cost thousands of dollars and days of unnecessary delays to the time-sensitive project.

Phase 2 of the Sheridan Avenue Project continues this week, with work switching over to the westbound lanes sometime Wednesday. The contractor, S&S Builders, is capitalizing on the warm, dry weather to move thru the unfinished work between 16^th Street and Alger Avenue.

While WYDOT praises the overall cooperation and support of the community and Sheridan Avenue business owners, there are still reeling from a vandalism incident that has changed how work proceeds on the project.

On the afternoon of September 4, 17 cubic yards of concrete were poured between 15^th and 16^th Streets. That evening, several residents ignored the clearly delineated construction and traversed thru the area. In total, the contractors discovered a pickup truck, a motorcycle, and four individuals traveled thru the freshly poured concrete.

Four 12-foot by 12-foot concrete panels, a 10-foot and 10-foot panel, a 10-foot by 10-foot manhole section, and an ADA ramp at the southeast corner of 15th/Sheridan Avenue were all damaged. It cost S&S Builders between $5 thousand and $10 thousand dollars and three additional days of work in an area they’d already finished.

WYDOT Public Relations Specialist Cody Beers had strong words at the time.

“We must have motorists’ help on this project. This project has short-term inconvenience associated with it; we appreciate everyone is helpful in moving this project toward completion. These setbacks are expensive, delay completion of the project, involve local law enforcement, and are 100 percent preventable. This is unacceptable; during the day, workers are near the cones and traffic. These workers depend on drivers to exercise caution inside the project’s work zone. Safety should be everyone’s No. 1 priority.  Please, help us keep this project advancing toward a successful conclusion.”

Since then, policies have changed. Workers are now monitoring their work to ensure there are no further incidents of vandalism thru the work zone.

This will prevent further destruction, but there are no changes in attitude. Despite the continuing support from the community, Beers amusingly commented on the number of middle fingers directed at him during a recent visit to the 16^th street intersection.