What Have YOU Done Today?

[K'Tesh]

The city of Wilsonville replies...

Dear K'Tesh,

Thank you for your time in contacting the city. As for the existing low catch basins on Boones Ferry Road neither I nor others here in the city have direct knowledge of why they are below asphalt grade; I would surmise that the road was overlaid at one time and the pavement dipped to match the existing elevation of the catch basins. This year we do have some extra funds in our 2012 street maintenance budget and I have requested staff to expand the contract so that these catch basins will either be raised to street grade or, preferably, curb inlets be installed instead of the catch basins. The curb inlet solution would be dependent on if there are conflicting utilities behind face-of-curb or not.

In the short term there appears to be thermoplastic striping on the road as a warning in front of at least one of the catch basins, however it is not a significantly different color than the asphalt. I have requested our Public Works department to either clean or repair the thermoplastic striping and add reflectors to mitigate the problem prior to our ability to repair the problem.

I am not sure to whom your friend Joe has spoken to in the past, but the current city staff in engineering and legal is not aware of any previous contact on the catch basin issue on Boones Ferry Road.

As for your travel on Wilsonville Road the pedestrian and bike route through the underpass area has been on the north side for the past several months (please note that it is scheduled to be switched from the north side to the south side late next month). The south side is considered to be an active construction zone and should not be traversed by pedestrians or cyclists. ODOT is in control of the construction of this project and I have cc’d them with my response to see if additional signage is perhaps necessary.

You last photo shows the asphalt at a different elevation form the gutter. ODOT standards do not allow the top lift of asphalt to be installed between October 1 and March 14, plus the desire is to complete all trenching, curb and gutter work first, installing the bottom lifts of asphalt and holding off on the final lift of paving until all other work has been completed thereby creating a clean, smooth top lift of asphalt for riding or driving upon. The top lift of asphalt is expected to be installed this June.

Once again thank you and please let me know if additional questions arise.

Respectfully,
Steve R. Adams, P.E.
Interim City Engineer
City of Wilsonville

[q`Tzal]

Originally Posted by K'Tesh

The city of Wilsonville replies...

I am not sure to whom your friend Joe has spoken to in the past, but the current city staff in engineering and legal is not aware of any previous contact on the catch basin issue on Boones Ferry Road.

The solution to this would be to crosspost any public work request on a public forum such as this and blatantly inform the request receiver that said request is also available for the general public to see. It seemed to work OK for me http://bikeportland.org/forum/showthread.php?t=3619.)

Also K'Tesh: am I wrong in perceiving an adversarial or angered tone in this civil servant's reply?

Thanks.

[K'Tesh]

Originally Posted by q`Tzal

The solution to this would be to crosspost any public work request on a public forum such as this and blatantly inform the request receiver that said request is also available for the general public to see. It seemed to work OK for me http://bikeportland.org/forum/showthread.php?t=3619.)

Lately, when I sent my emails notifying agencies of hazards, I don't try to identify the exact person that I need to reach*. I send it to several agencies (city, county, and state), Jonathan, advocacy groups, lawyers, and the media. Fringe benefit is that the other agencies get the idea of what cyclists feel is unsafe, and perhaps will take steps to prevent similar mistakes.

Originally Posted by q`Tzal

Also K'Tesh: am I wrong in perceiving an adversarial or angered tone in this civil servant's reply?

I didn't pick up any negative vibes from the email. I'm sure that he was shocked (seeing the shear number of people I sent this to) when it was dropped in his lap, but I don't think that he was angered.

*I don't have any clue which agency is responsible for each road (unless I've already had issues with them regarding it). So, rather than wasting minutes on my cell phone (and I've nearly gone over on more than one occasion), I just send the email to the most likely agencies, and let them find who needs to get the message.

[Alan]

Originally Posted by q`Tzal

Also K'Tesh: am I wrong in perceiving an adversarial or angered tone in this civil servant's reply?

His message just sounds routine and factual, to me. I'd give him the benefit of any doubt, considering he did respond and address all the questions.

[K'Tesh]

Sent this to ODOT today... This is a little bigger than my SAK can handle.

Hi Basil, Don, Jonathan,

Today I had the soggy experience of riding on 99W from Sherwood to King City. Not fun!



Between 19000 SW Pacific Highway (across the 99W from the Pick-n-Pull) and Cipole Rd., there's an evergreen hedge that is severely encroaching on the bikelane/shoulder.



It looked to me like the vegetation is now threatening to hit tall vehicles (buses, 18 wheelers, etc).



Can you send the landscaping guys out there to clean this up again.

Replies Greatly Appreciated

Thanks
K'Tesh

I know it looks like the address is 1900, but the last zero of the 19000 has flaked off.

[K'Tesh]

ODOT's Reply:

Hello K'Tesh,

Thank you for contacting our Bike/Ped staff in Portland. AskODOT, at the Oregon Department of Transportation's (ODOT) Citizen Representative Office, was asked to follow up regarding the maintenance issue on 99W . The local maintenance crew is planning to do trimming , but they must borrow a machine large enough and equipped to do so. This means working with others scheduled to use the same machine. The local maintenance crew is hoping to have this completed within a couple of months. Thanks again for bringing this to our attention, as safety is a priority of ODOT staff.

Please don't hesitate to contact us for additional information,
Tori Hickerson
Citizen Representative

While I'm not thrilled with the "couple of months" part, it's now on someone's "to-do" list, and that's not bad.

[Simple Nature]

Originally Posted by K'Tesh

ODOT's Reply:



While I'm not thrilled with the "couple of months" part, it's now on someone's "to-do" list, and that's not bad.

Technically this is not a bike lane so it probably doesn't carry the same priority.

[K'Tesh]

I created this thread to inspire others, and I love it when people join me in trying to make things better. These are from the parallel thread on bikeforums.net





Somewhere on Long Island, New York

[K'Tesh]

Perhaps you remember when I went to Wilsonville, and found theses storm drain grates....



Well, I got a new email from their city engineer... w/2 photos (SMILE)

Photos courtesy of the City of Wilsonville

K'Tesh,

The City has installed temporary reflectors and thermoplastic to better identify the low catch basins, photos attached. This summer we plan to reconstruct them with our Street Maintenance project.

Respectfully,
Steve R. Adams, P.E.
Interim City Engineer
City of Wilsonville

[K'Tesh]

While I was riding tonight, I got caught waiting at an intersection and noticed there was something odd with the rear driver's side tire in the car ahead of me. The light changed, and fortunately for both of us, she turned into a parking lot just on the other side of the intersection (and luckily for me, in the direction that I was heading). I followed her into the lot, and got a good look at the tire.



There was a large bulge where part of the tire had not seated properly (you can see the gap under the "L"). We both took a few pictures, and she called Les Schwab to get it fixed.

Had she been traveling at highway speeds when that thing blew out, who knows what the results could have been.