Drums have life of their own

BY RALPH MORROW

MANAGING EDITOR

Soon, North Roosevelt Blvd. will be wide open with five smooth lanes.

Gone will be the orange and white barrels, hundreds of them, maybe thousands, that have told you where you could not drive on North Roosevelt and the adjacent side streets.

And, don’t you wish you had invented the barrels that have replaced the long-gone oil drums?

The honor of invention goes to Bob’s Barricades, but there’s not a Bob among them. The owners of the company, headquartered in Sunrise and servicing Florida and parts of Arizona, are Happy Alter, listed as the owner and chief executive officer, and Alan Chesler, president and partner.

Bob’s claims to be the largest privately owned barricade company in the United States, providing “temporary traffic control” since 1975 with the same ownership.

While drivers along North Roosevelt are probably most familiar with the drums, the company, according to its Web site, has various types of barricades, arrow boards, message boards, cones, delineators and safety products. And, yes, the company also has those radar display units that tell you how fast you’re driving.

Yes, workmen are nearing the end of the two-plus year project that began April 23, 2012. But, not quite yet.

First, there’ll be time off for Lobster Mini-Season. There will be no scheduled daytime lane closures from July 28 through Aug. 1 (Monday through Friday), according to FDOT spokesperson Dean Walters.

There will be overnight closures, beginning tonight, as the friction (final) course of asphalt begins to be installed. Work will begin on the right-hand inbound lane. There will be intermittent side street and driveway closures.

One outbound lane of South Roosevelt will be closed intermittently this week, said Walters, for drainage work.

And, if you’ve gone over the bridge at the Salt Run Channel, you know that part of the project hasn’t been completed. Workers will be there this week, as well as completing drainage, utility work, lighting, roadway and landscaping.

Patience. What a virtue.

 

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