(Photo: Oregon Department of Transportation)
Did you read our story about citizen activist Jim Parsons marking dangerous catch basins on Hall Boulevard?
It appears as though the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) may have read the story too.
(Photo courtesy Jim Parsons)
After years of sending emails to ODOT and other agencies regarding the catch basin, Parsons decided to take matters into his own hands and mark the drain with paint he purchased at a hardware store.
One week after our story ran on his fix, we received an email from ODOT’s Public Information Officer Don Hamilton explaining that crews were out repaving that section of Hall to make the basins safer for bicycle traffic.
When I stopped by to see the repairs myself, ODOT crews were finishing work and removing construction signs. Crew members I spoke with declined to comment on whether or not Parson’s actions or our story motivated the repaving, but one person on site shared the old adage, “it’s the squeaky wheel that gets the grease.”
Along with raising and repaving the two catch basins in the photo ODOT passed along, crews also ground down and repaved another catch basin and a manhole cover on the opposite side of the street.
Regardless of what caused ODOT to act, this development is sure to be welcomed by anyone who rides their bike on Hall Blvd!