The US State of Massachusetts, for what it's worth, also uses police officers to control and supervise traffic around all worksites involving streets or roads.
These police details are paid by the organization doing the work. Condo developers, public utilities, and municipal public works departments all pay the same rates.
This stuff is expensive. It cost hundreds of millions of dollars US during the Big Dig. Our local radio humorists Tom and Ray Maggliozi might have said, lots of police "put their boats through college" in those days.
You'll regularly see a those cops hanging out in front of a construction site (doing nothing) or sitting in their cars (doing nothing). They could just as effectively be replaced with an orange cone.
They certainly are needed. I was snared in late night construction traffic near Baltimore waiting for a crane to lift a beam. I was in the middle lane preparing to merge over and was at an angle along with another two guys in a car to our right from the right lane. Suddenly there's this beeping coming from a car that's trying to get between us. We then hear a young woman asking to let her pass. "Excuse me, can you please move?" My friend leans out the window and asks, "You can't pass, the road is blocked by construction" she again asks the same thing but a little distressed. My friend responds "Is everything okay? do you need help?" she just kept begging "please move we have to get through." The guys next to us again ask them "Do you need help?" The girl again begged for one of us to move this time nearly crying. The other driver responds "You can't pass. There's nowhere to go" The woman responds by leaning on the horn while inching up until she nearly hits the other car forcing him to pull off the road. She then speeds off into the very active construction zone. Within seconds, out of the darkness comes lights and sirens and gives chase.
About 30 minutes later when the lane opens we get about half a mile down the zone and saw that the cop was only able to stop this nut job after her path was blocked by machinery and materials. She was cuffed, sitting on the hood of her car completely zoned out. Her friend was still in the passenger seat. They couldn't have been older than 20. My money was on club/party drugs they couldn't handle and freaked out while waiting in traffic.
Daily I walk past a street that is a dead end, and there is construction being done at the far end of this dead end. Every day there are 2-3 police officers standing at the top of the street. It's a gross misuse of time and funds.
> The Central Artery/Tunnel Project (CA/T), commonly known as the Big Dig, was a megaproject in Boston that rerouted the Central Artery of Interstate 93 (I-93), the chief highway through the heart of the city, into the 1.5-mile (2.4 km) Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. Tunnel. The project also included the construction of the Ted Williams Tunnel (extending I-90 to Logan International Airport), the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge over the Charles River, and the Rose Kennedy Greenway in the space vacated by the previous I-93 elevated roadway. Initially, the plan was also to include a rail connection between Boston's two major train terminals. Planning began in 1982; the construction work was carried out between 1991 and 2006; and the project concluded on December 31, 2007 when the partnership between the program manager and the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority ended.
> The Big Dig was the most expensive highway project in the US, and was plagued by cost overruns, delays, leaks, design flaws, charges of poor execution and use of substandard materials, criminal arrests,[2][3] and the death of one motorist.[4] The project was originally scheduled to be completed in 1998[5] at an estimated cost of $2.8 billion (in 1982 dollars, US$6.0 billion adjusted for inflation as of 2006).[6] However, the project was completed in December 2007 at a cost of over $8.08 billion (in 1982 dollars, $14.6 billion adjusted for inflation, meaning a cost overrun of about 190%)[6] as of 2006.[7] The Boston Globe estimated that the project will ultimately cost $22 billion, including interest, and that it would not be paid off until 2038.[8] As a result of a death, leaks, and other design flaws, Bechtel and Parsons Brinckerhoff—the consortium that oversaw the project—agreed to pay $407 million in restitution and several smaller companies agreed to pay a combined sum of approximately $51 million.[9]
These police details are paid by the organization doing the work. Condo developers, public utilities, and municipal public works departments all pay the same rates.
This stuff is expensive. It cost hundreds of millions of dollars US during the Big Dig. Our local radio humorists Tom and Ray Maggliozi might have said, lots of police "put their boats through college" in those days.