Close to one million people will be flooding the streets of Washington, DC for the multiple women’s marches and Donald Trump’s inauguration this weekend. All of the traffic will certainly put the city’s streets to the tests, but the activities are also having an effect on multiple construction projects currently underway in the area.
in order to relieve some of the congestion that’s bound to be present in the city streets, the city has suspended work on all major construction projects in the area from Thursday through Sunday. Contractors who need to meet deadlines and workers who need their paychecks are struggling with the city’s decision.
The scheduling changes were known well in advance of the events, but contractors are still concerned about meeting their deadlines. In the past, Martin Luther King Jr. Day has fallen on the same weekend as the inauguration, which resulted in fewer missed days of work for construction crews. This year, however, the holiday resulted in two days of missed work, and the inauguration in another four.
The DDOT dictated that construction be suspended from January 15 through January 16 in observance of MLK Day, and from January 19 through January 23 for the inauguration and marches occurring this weekend. That’s nearly a week of delays for construction projects around the city.
DDOT originally planned on stopping construction for the entire week, which would have created a 12-day delay in construction across the city from January 13 to January 24. DC Building Industry Association CEO Lisa Maria Mallory said that kind of suspension would have had a significant impact on the city. She added that only having a few weeks’ notice was a big challenge for the industry.
In seven out of nine surveyed regions, poured concrete is the most commonly used outdoor surface material, but concrete workers might not be able to meet their required 40 hours this week. Josh Foreso, vice president of HITT Contracting, explained that if these trade workers can’t work for a full week, they may be lacking a paycheck.