When the January 17,1994 earthquake hit, the 118, the 405, the 5 and other freeways in the Los Angeles area had huge sections that had totally collapsed. The first estimates were a minimum of three years to fix the roads--and at an outrageous cost. This would destroy the Southern California economy, jobs lost, businesses closed and an exodus that had not happened in California before.
Instead of raising taxes, bemoaning his bad luck,
not blaming the Federal government for not acting quickly enough,, Gov. Pete Wilson, like the Marine he will always be, took action.
By Executive Order he temporarily ended many environmental laws that were only meant to slow the building process and to make it more costly. He put aside the phony "prevailing wage" laws that are meant to provide unions with tribute for their donations to hack politicians. Then he did what private industry does--he gave a bonus to construction firms that finished ahead of schedule. Most government contracts have penalties for finishing late. Wilson understood that the public was being inconvenienced and business could not operate without a solid freeway system. Instead of three years, almost all the needed work was completed in eight months, and the most needed in less than three months. Businesses made money, union workers and non union workers got paid premium wages, yet the State of California saved money. It was a win win situation for all.
Instead of taking over 2 years to fix the 10 Freeway, it took 66 days. Here is an article written by Gov. Wilson on how he did it,
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editor...l?id=110007252
Three shifts, working 24/7 made the completion in a little over two months, not two years! Reason magazine did a complete analysis of how Wilson repaired the freeways.
