Construction Was Speedy

Each week I read of new software, machines and ideas, all of which are intended to speed construction. Now, I see your article, "Guam and Korea Projects Set To Exceed $35 Billion," on construction of new runways, housing, roads and piers (ENR 6/18 p. 12). The master plan will be done in a year, and construction will start in three years.

During August 1944 on Tinian, another island in the Marianas, U.S. Marines pushed out the Japanese. With a few lingering Japanese taking potshots at them, the Seabees completed the following in seven months:

I then looked at the article about the Supreme Court's incomprehensible decision about wetlands and the Corps of Engineers' proposed ambiguous regulations. What has happened in the last 60 years to our ability to get anything done? Could it be that the bureaucracy is more dangerous than Japanese riflemen?

Paul E. Thompson
Attorney-at-law
Tulsa, Okla.

Follow Up on Accidents

The recent coverage of the tragic accident at the Bay St. Louis Bridge project, "Incremental Work on Mississippi Bridge Begins Four Days After Deadly Collapse," reminded me once again that readers are seldom told what really happened in most of the accidents or failures that are reported in ENR (ENR 6/25 p. 79). After the dust and claims have settled, ENR should provide a review of the incident so that others in the industry may improve their construction techniques and safety procedures. If the causes are not disseminated, the original story was just sensationalism.

Kal Bergstrom
Earth Builders L.P.
Fort Worth, Texas

Real Labor Costs Needed

For several years we have been reading in ENR and other magazines about how labor prices, for both engineering and construction, have been skyrocketing. In your editorial "Surfing Big Inflation Waves Requires New Skills," it was refreshing to hear a magazine finally admit that published industry statistics are not capturing these trends (ENR 6/18 p. 80). Having admitted to this failure, what the industry needs now is for ENR and industry leaders to demand that this failure be corrected.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics must develop labor price indices that track the prices that E&C contractors are charging for their services. The wage and compensation indices that BLS tracks do not tell the story; they have become disconnected from labor prices since about 2003 when the E&C market became a seller's domain.

There is an old saying that you can't fix what you can't measure. How can we expect industry awareness and action on fixing labor problems when our measurements do not show that there is a problem? What can we collectively do to fix that problem? BLS, where are you?

John K. Hollmann, PE
Owner/Consultant
Validation Estimating, LLC
Sterling, VA