Three minutes of rain, and the junction gave up

The rain lasted a little over three minutes. The queue it produced took an hour and ten to clear.

The junction was resurfaced and its drainage rebuilt over eleven weeks this spring, at a cost published in a tender document and not much mentioned since. Tuesday was the first storm heavy enough to test it. Water stood across two lanes for roughly forty minutes.

The contractor points to the design spec, which is written against a rainfall intensity the department sets. The department points to the contractor. Both are, on the documents I have seen, telling the truth: the junction performed as specified, and the specification was written in 2019.