| Subject: | Chip sealing information in Washington County |
| Date: | 08/23/2000 12:18 AM |
| From: | Reid, Pam |
|
Here is the Washington County road information. http://www.co.washington.or.us/deptmts/lut/lut.htm then go to http://www.co.washington.or.us/deptmts/lut/oper/majr_str.htm for a list of roads that will be chip sealed. Write to the Direction of Transportation, John Rosenberger and to the Operations and Maintenance Manager, Greg Miller and to the County Commissioners (listed on the web site). Washington County also has a Rural Roads Committee and they are seeking volunteers. I volunteered a year ago but then got a new job that sucked up all my time and could not participate. Pam -----Original Message----- From: BROWN-GIERGA Bill [mailto:BBrown--@HACSA.Lane.OR.US] Sent: Tuesday, August 22, 2000 11:23 AM To: 'phil.b-@intel.com'; 'OBRA' Subject: RE: [OBRA Chat] FW: Iowa Hill Rd- road work under way. --- Sponsor's Message -------------------------------------- **WIN A TRIP TO HAWAII** Every time you send a FREE ZingCard from now until September 11, 2000 you will be entered to win a trip to Hawaii. http://click.topica.com/aaaayzaVxiDpaVzpaga/Zing ------------------------------------------------------------ I've been meaning to do this... and I know this isn't gonna be a terribly popular request / announcement... but since it came up here ... At some point along the way here, it would be way cool if someone, or a group of people, cycling club, etc... would be willing to tackle the chip seal issue.... in each county. Each county in Oregon and Washington needs representation and challenge from their local cycling community. The ultimate goal of which, would be to try and persaude your County Commissioners and Public Works departments to back down on their chip seal policies. A first step, would be to find out your counties chip seal plan (find out if they plan on chipping all their roads eventually, and, find out what rock size they'r going to use), and to get a 2000 schedule, and a 2001 schedule. I know it seems like a gnarley task, but.... we're getting info here in Lane County, that all other counties are going to do the same thing Lane County is; Chip seal every single county road (not just the "remote" ones that used to get chipped once in a while), and, switch from small chip to 3/8" or in some cases, even 1/2". In essence, they're going from gravel... to rocks. Why? Ask yourself... when is the last time you saw a logging truck on a ride?? Remember years ago, how it used to be a popular topic of conversation on a road ride.... "damn log trucks...". Well, now that Oregonians and Washintonians as a whole, succeeded in reducing the logging industry, it's the cycling community that's going to take it on the chin. Soon there will be no more money coming in from logging. In Lane County, we'll be de-coupling from the logging revenue system completely in 2002. It isn't just roads. Everything county supported will suffer. There's a huge storm coming, but the public doesn't know about yet, because no politician wants to be the one to announce it... and then say they're going to have to raise taxes to offset it. (My own personal - side soap box comment, is that they're doing the public a huge dis-service by not coming out and dealing with this now. They knew about it years ago). It will likely take years for the full damage to hit, and then years longer to dig out of it. Even if very little headway can be made due to the shortage of logging dollars, at the very least, we want our elected officials and Public Works departments, in all counties of our states, to know that making these policy changes is not "ok", and that it's effecting a large group of roadway users quite adversely. Think of it this way... We're some of the first ones to know about this, and have a rare opportunity to make a play now. In a couple of years, can you imagine the survival / throat cutting / titanic life raft situation that's going to happen? A mini-update from Lane County; GEARS, the largest cycling club in LC, and who had already "joined the fight" earlier this year, has agreed to take the leadership role in working with the county to try and reverse their chip policies. Most recently, we met with the Lane County Roads Advisory Committee (RAC) to present our case. The RAC is a 9 member committee, consisting of local citizens mostly (some engineers), Public works officials, and one LC Commissioner. Their job is to make recommendations to the LC board on how to best spend the road budget. They are also charged with taking public comment. Our presentation went well, but it is clear that there is isn't much support, at this point, from the RAC. They did, however, authorize a Bicycle sub-committee to give us a way to have more in depth meetings, and some real one on one dialog with them and Public Works. Currently, we're in a holding pattern, while we develop a list of most commonly used cycling roads, and, the RAC sub comm will be doing an on site road tour next week, both of last year's botched roads, and this year's newly chipped roads. We're all due to meet in October. If we can make any headway, this time frame would allow Public Works enough time to make adjustments to next year's schedule. We are asking for a reduction in rock size from 3/8", down to 1/4", and we are asking for them to "preserve" 150 miles of roadway from ever being chip sealed (keep it paved). So... here's my pitch; If any person, or group of people, is interested in persuing this issue in their own county, I can forward you all the information that we've learned thus far. I'm araid I'm pretty much maxed out for effort, in trying to fight the Lane County battle, so, I wouldn't be able to give you much time to fight other county battles. I do have information, and I would be happy to give advice. Any headway, that any group can make in their county, will go a long way to help the statewide cycling community, and promote cycling in general. Go cycling! - Bill -----Original Message----- From: Barila, Phil [mailto:phil.b-@intel.com] Sent: Tuesday, August 22, 2000 10:19 AM To: 'OBRA' Subject: [OBRA Chat] FW: Iowa Hill Rd- road work under way. --- Sponsor's Message -------------------------------------- **WIN A TRIP TO HAWAII** Every time you send a FREE ZingCard from now until September 11, 2000 you will be entered to win a trip to Hawaii. http://click.topica.com/aaaayzaVxiDpaVEL1Ha/Zing ------------------------------------------------------------ Bummer. -----Original Message----- Sent: Tuesday, August 22, 2000 10:09 AM Subject: Iowa Hill Rd- road work under way. FYI. To my disappointment Sunday I discovered Washington county is applying chip-seal (a type of gravel and tar overlay) to Iowa Hill road. We approached the climb up the west side route (Forest Hill golf course and Unger Rd? ) but found chip seal just before we hit the crest. We met a rider making his way up the east side who confirmed the road work began at River Rd. To respond to the whole group send to ob-@topica.com. To respond to the list manager send to ob-@teleport.com To unsubscribe send to obra-uns-@topica.com ___________________________________________________________ T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16 Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics To respond to the whole group send to ob-@topica.com. To respond to the list manager send to ob-@teleport.com To unsubscribe send to obra-uns-@topica.com ___________________________________________________________ T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16 Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics |
