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| BACK
IN BUSINESS Civic public works employees returned
to work in Baghdad on Thursday. Repairing traffic signs
and signals was at the top of the work order. |
A traffic light is
a small thingusually obeyed, often cursed and cheerfully
violateduntil it quits working. Then people anxiously
look forward to seeing it repaired.
Huge numbers of Baghdads
traffic signals have been out of service for more than a month.
Their absence has contributed to traffic snarls and has become
one more irritant in a life already made difficult by fuel
shortages, intermittent electricity, uncollected garbage and
other postwar dysfunctions.
But on May 22, the citys
public works employees started to repair broken traffic signals
and street signs, resume suspended projects and tackle the
myriad small jobs that together will help to restore a sense
that life could soon be back to normal. That they are returning
to work without pay is a testament to their sense of duty
and their loyalty to their city.
At a traffic-choked intersection
in Baghdads Rusafa municipality, one worker on a ladder
picked up the hanging guts of a signal light, fitted it back
into place, pounded it and took direction from the traffic
engineer below until it was fully seated. A green arrow flashed
where none had been moments before. Iman Darab, the engineer,
says there are 103 signals in her municipality. She doesnt
know how this one was damaged, but repairing it was a simple
job of reassembling the light, since the controller is still
working.
Between 50 and 60 workersabout
30% of the rostershowed up for the first day of street
work, says Mujahid Sharif, director-general for projects in
the mayors office. Besides the benefit of getting needed
work done, the crews serve as an advertisement to get the
rest of the force back on the job. "At least it is a
good start," he says.
His office has set four priorities
for selecting the projects to be done. First are those required
for safety that were suspended by the war. Second are traffic
lights, guardrails and other safety-related works. Third are
projects with lower safety exposure that were halted by the
war. Fourth are projects from the 2003 plan. Todays
projects included two curb projects, the traffic signal, a
guardrail and five street sign repairs. On Sunday, crews are
scheduled to start heavy road construction on 8 km of highways,
he says with some satisfaction.
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SAFETY Restoring highway
guardrails battered by raging tanks and warfare sends
a signal that civilian values are returning. |
The Army Corps of Engineers is
supporting this work through the Baghdad-based main forward
engineer support team (FEST Main) of its South Atlantic Division,
Atlanta, Ga. An official of the Organization for Reconstruction
and Humanitarian Assistance, the U.S. coordinating body for
reconstruction of Iraq, says the original mission of the FEST
was to provide quality assurance on work to be done by Bechtel
National Inc. under its contract with the U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID). But security conditions
in Baghdad have prevented Bechtel from beginning work, so
the FEST currently is assisting Maj. Gen. Carl Strock in his
role as interim administrator for the city. In that capacity,
FEST engineers are working with Baghdad city administrative
heads in fields as diverse as transportation and communication,
justice, health, housing and construction and irrigation,
among others. They provide advice and guidance, coordinate
support from U.S. resources for the Iraqis needs, evaluate
the condition of government buildings and in many other ways
serve the overall ORHA mission of creating the conditions
for a stable new national government.
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| A
SENSE OF ORDER Mending the ragged tears of war,
Baghdad city workers re-set curbing crushed in battle.
(photo above and left) |
At a streetside location in another
section of the city, about 15 men wrestled stone posts into
alignment along the margin of a sidewalk. A 90-m x 4-m section
of sidewalk was torn out here to create parking space out
of the traffic lanes, but work was halted by the war. On the
Mohammed al Kasim Highway, another small crew is rebuilding
a tank-damaged guardrail on the median divider. For a highway
that has carried tanks, this one shows little sign of wear.
Mujahid says it was paved three months before the war with
25 cm of concrete topped with 15 cm of asphalt.
An ORHA spokeswoman says
that ORHA head Jay Garner yesterday ordered resumption of
salary payment to civil servants starting Saturday, May 24,
using funds from frozen Iraqi assets. Back pay will be added
in stages with the goal of being completely caught up by the
end of June.
(Photos by Thomas F. Armistead
for ENR)

ENR Associate Editor Thomas
F. Armistead is in the Mideast region with elements
of Army Corps of Engineers and private contractors.
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