Marc San Soucie
Here's the message I sent to LUTOPS this evening. I copied my county
commissioner (John Leeper), plus Dick Schouten, a longtime cycling activist,
and the county chair Tom Brian.
Hi:
Your own web site includes this bit of text:
Litter is dangerous! Many Washington County roads lack sidewalks so
pedestrians and cyclists
must travel along the shoulder. Broken glass and other debris can be
hazardous to their health.
Given this advisory, how do you justify chip-sealing a substantial length of
one of the county roads most frequently used by cyclists? Chip-sealing is
tragically hazardous for cyclists. It makes the already narrow shoulder of
the road unusable, and makes travel anywhere but in the right-wheel-rut of
the travel lane dangerous. This forces cyclists further into the travel lane
than they would ordinarily ride, increasing the possibility of dangerous
interaction with careless or uncaring motorists. To a cyclist, chip-seal is
dangerous litter on a massive scale.
There must be a reasonably economical way of maintaining roads such as West
Union without putting cyclists into more danger than they already face on
shared 55-MPH roads such as this. Please consider changing operations policy
to avoid chip-seal on roads without safe bike lanes or wide shoulders. And
please hurry to sweep unsettled gravel off West Union as soon as possible.
Thank you,
Marc San Soucie - frequent cycling user of West Union Rd.
4230 NW 147th Ave.
Portland 97229
----- Original Message -----
From: "Marc San Soucie" <ma-@sansoucie.com>
To: "'OBRA list'" <ob-@topica.com>; "Lst-TriClub.NRC.WHQ"
<Lst-TriClu-@nike.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2003 11:49 PM
Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] Bid Farewell to another Washington County Road
Use of chip seal - and the appallingly large-grained variant used at Hagg
Lake - are policy choices that could be subject to influence from a
substantial number of complainants. It's not trivial to change policy,
because a lot of policy is based on economic expediency. But nothing takes
a
hard-working public servant aback quite as much as vocal resistance to
their
casually expedient ideas. Speak up about your displeasure - not to OBRA or
to each other, but to Greg Clemmons, head of operations at Wash Co, and to
the Wash Co board of commissioners. They're the ones who need to hear that
chip-seal is tragic for cyclists. They probably haven't considered its
impact, or don't realize its magnitude. Let them know you're bothered.
Silence is assent. E-Mail to: lut-@co.washington.or.us.
Marc San Soucie
Washington County
Land Use and Transportation Department
Operations & Maintenance Services Division
1400 SW Walnut Street
Hillsboro, OR 97123-5625
Phone: (503) 846-7623
Fax: (503) 846-7620
E-Mail to: lut-@co.washington.or.us
www.co.washington.or.us
----- Original Message -----
From: "Shapiro, Kendall" <kendall.-@nike.com>
To: "Lst-Bike.Logievelo" <Lst-Bike.-@nike.com>; "'OBRA list'"
<ob-@topica.com>; "Lst-TriClub.NRC.WHQ" <Lst-TriClu-@nike.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2003 3:06 PM
Subject: [OBRA Chat] Bid Farewell to another Washington County Road
Alas yet another wonderful Washington County Road falls prey to Oregon's
Dept Of Transportation.
Today West Union Road was Chip sealed from Helvatia Road out to North
Plains. Don't plan on getting any decent riding on this road for quite
some
time.(IE years) The high temps lately will cause a longer than normal
time
for the tar to set. There will be a period of time(weeks) that gravel
will
be strewn all over the road so beware.
Join me in a moment of silence to bid farewell to this great conduit to
backroad riding.........
In case you don't know what Chip Sealing is..........well is is a cheap
way
to extend the life of a road by laying down tat and then spreading out
gravel on top. the gravel sticks to the tar and voila you have a rough
road
that will last a bit longer. The unfortunate part is that West Union
was
one of the smoothest roads around to ride on:(
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