WPCNR BUMPER-TO-BUMPER. By Clark Kent. Special From The Daily Planet. November 28, 2006: So Lois Lane was tossing and turning last night in the Fortress of Solitude in the White Plains southend, "where all is quiet, the yards are big, and the children pass their state achievements," turns and asks me, "Superman? What's that drilling?" "With your superhearing, I can't believe you don't hear that."
I opened the window and sure enough, there was a rat-a-tat-tat rumble, pound, scraping sound in the direction of I-287 North of the WPCNR headquarters. "Sounds like the DOT is at it again, Lois, this is a job for Superman."
Why You Couldn't Get to Sleep Last Night: "Concrete Compression" on the infamous I-287 Entrance Westbound entry ramp in White Plains. The giant dentist's drill onthe backhoe was pounding the cavities out of the ramp at 12 midnight. The chimpanzees that plan the scheduling at the Department of Transportation have struck White Plains again. Photo, WPCNR News
Checking with White Plains Police Headquarters, the desk told me, "We know of no construction going on. I'll give you the DOT." The WPPD deskmate calls the the DOT which picks up in Albany and they ring the night supervisor, the phone just rings and rings. Finally I call back the White Plains Police to make an official complaint: "I want to make an official complaint about the noise coming from I-287." The White Plains Police say that is the Westchester County Police jurisdiction. She gives me the Westchester County Police.
Their Westchester County Police desk man gives me the Westchester County Police Dispatcher. She checks it out while I am on hold. She reports: "The DOT has permission from the (DOT) engineers to do some concrete compression on I-287. They are scheduled to be doing it until 1:30 A.M. They have permission from the DOT Engineers. We're getting a lot of other complaints"
This sounds like a job for Superman, I think, so I take to the night about 11 o'clock, and head for I-287 off Exit 8-A where the construction might be. Making several passes over I-287, I drive under the overpass right by The Westchester Mall (in White Plains). Note to the White Plains Police: Exit 8A is in White Plains.
Those Who Drill By Night -- Don't Have to Sleep at Night. The DOT Boys Pound away on the I-287 Overpass at midnight in White Plains, keep a good portion of the city awake. Photo, WPCNR News
As I drive under the underpass, I notice a backhoe on the ramp and suddenly see it's menacing arm DRILL the overpass, creating a shuddering RAT-A-TAT-TAT creating sparks and a thundering, echoing catastrphic sound and shaking above my automobile. I had located the midnight driller that could be heard all over the southend of town. We thought it might be a Stepinac prank. But no, it was the good old DOT carrying out another well-thought out plan.
As of 12:30 the drilling has started again. It's louder than blasting which they do during the day, which I have never heard.
Citizens inconvenienced by this night rumbling (that can be heard 2 miles away through closed windows), according to the Westchester County Police should contact the "Head of Traffic, Division of Traffic of the Department of Transportation" and tell them this is ridiculous and they should not schedule "concrete compression" from 10 P.M. to 1:30 A.M.
One again, those same chimpanzees in the DOT Engineering Department who gave you the stop sign entrance onto I287 for three months, where you had to make a full stop and enter 60 MPH traffic have created an avoidable inconvenience (the cacaphonous drilling) that is keeping not only Lois Lane up tonight, but every commuter who is a light sleeper in North White Plains, the White Plains Downtown and the White Plains Southend, not to mention Valhalla and Harrison.
I can hardly wait until they start working on the new Tappan Zee Bridge and giving us a new I-287, after they finish the I-287 they are working on now. Hey, Eliot, put all the Democrats who want jobs in the DOT on January 1 -- they couldn't do any worse -- or could they? You'd be doing New York a favor.
