BROWN-GIERGA Bill

06/28/00 Update on Lane County road chip seal issue. It's long, but it's

got some important info.





On 06/28/00, Jay Bozievich and I met with Doug Putschler from LC Public

Works, Lane County Commissioner Cindy Weeldreyer, and Natalie (sorry Natalie

I can't remember your last name) from CVALCO (the visitors association), to

go on a 10 mile test ride on new chip seal, old chip seal, and pavement.

Commissioner Weeldreyer suggested the meet / ride. I suggested the course,

and that everyone bring a road bike with high pressure road tires. Each

person would have the chance to evaluate the road surfaces from the seat of

a bicycle, and then discuss the experience, and all the chip seal

ramifications later.



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Jay and I heard some good news, but also heard some alarming things as well.

Basically the bottom line is, Public Works says that Central, Fleck,

Alvadore, Shefler, Knight, Suttle, Bear Creek, etc.... all of those roads

came out as badly as they did because the oil supplier did not mix the rock

with the right kind of oil, and properly. It took them all summer to get

the bugs worked out, and in the end, were very proud of the final product

they produced on Hill Rd, and on a 2 miles section of Marcola Rd, North of

the town of Marcola. These are the only roads "that came out right". Hill

Rd is the road that McKenzie View dead ends into. Most folks go left, and

end up making a loop out of it, plus Sunderman and Marcola road.



They then explained that the road list we have has three types of finishes /

chip sealings planned. One is a repair of bad areas from last year. Now to

them, that means where the rock literally lifted off the underlying

pavement. It doesn't mean they're going to re-do all those roads to be like

Hill Rd. Secondly, there are roads that say "Hot Oil" next to them. This

is the Hill Rd. treatment. Then, there are the ones that don't say anything

in the comment line. These are "emulsion" mix roads that they are saying

will come out better than Central road and all those other roads, but not as

good as Hill Rd either.



Later in the evening, Doug Putschler, started to make some efforts towards

offering to help cyclists, stating that they could roll the roads with a

steel drum steam roller instead of a rubber drum. This will crush the tips

off of the rocks, making "fines" out of them and sifting them into between

the chip rocks. This gets done while the tar is still hot. The fines

should not wash away. He also offered to "fog seal" the roads. Jay can

explain this better, but there is a chance this will make the roadway

smoother as well. Fog sealing will happen for sure on all new hot oil chip

seal roads, and, Doug is considering going back to do a fog seal on the

roads last year that came out bad. He does not know if this will make those

roads more smooth or not. It is a new process.



So the good news is, the future roads won't be as bad as the long list I

listed above. Most will be as good as Hill Rd. The other, "emulsion" mix

roads, we need to fight to have done as "Hot Oil" roads. At 7 to 20 cents

per square yard more for this extra step, we're hoping the county will see

this as somewhat affordable. We'll be pushing for; 1) All chipped roads to

be hoil oil chip. 2) That Public Works continues to try and find

application methods that would make this process even smoother. This may

include asking them to back the rock size down a 1/16" (Doug actually

mentioned this), to 5/16" instead of 3/8". 3) To refinish all of the "bad"

chip seal roads sooner, and not have to wait 7 years for the current chip

seal to completely wear. 4) Still.... That certain roads not ever get

chipped. This may have to be a very short list. We're going to target

about 150 miles.



That's all for future roads. For this year, the best we can fight for is to

convert some of the emulsion treated roads to hot oil. We will be pressing

for that right away. Doug made it clear; on application issues, he can work

with us, but on things that require changing materials, we have to press

through the board (because it means more money).





In general, there was some tension, but everyone was feeling more

comfortable with each other at the end. It is very important to not

personally attack any one person. It's really hard to relay information

without mentioning names. Especially when Public Works only had one

representative. So, I have no choice but to mention Doug's name in certain

examples. What transpired is just too important to leave those parts out.

I'll just preface it all by saying, that Doug is a super nice guy, really

smart, and obviously really into his job. He cares a great deal about the

final product that is being delivered to the public. He was truly puzzled

and disappointed at the cyclist's reaction to the new chip seal process.

He's been envisioning Hill Rd. throughout these discussions (not Central and

the others), and he feels he has worked hard to make that road come out as

smooth as it did.



So with that said... There were offers to help, but there were also alarming

things said. Doug (and maybe this has changed a bit since our meeting last

night) kept refering to cyclists as a special interest group, and going on

to mention skate boarders and roller bladers. Jay and I quickly made it

clear that cyclists compose a much much larger group than any of them

realize. Side story...; While standing and talking at Hill Rd. we saw

three different sets of bikes go by. Then later... (this was so cool)...

driving back on McKenzie, we see a group of 30 cyclists come by the other

way!! What lucky timing. Anyways, I believe that Public Works truly

believes they are serving the cyclists well. We simply live in two

different worlds. That's why we're having these discussions.... So that

Public Works and the Commissioners can see... what we ride, where we ride,

how far we ride, and how many of us there really are.



Doug apparently mis-understood the Commissioner's call for this to be a bike

test ride, and so consequently did not have a bike with him. He explained

that he thought we were just going to drive out and look at the roads.



With the extreme heat (it was 98 degrees), and Doug's lack of a bike, we

weren't actually able to do a ride per se'. We drove out to Central Rd

School and went on two, half mile long jaunts, with Jay captaining his

tandem, with Commissioner Weeldreyer in back, and then on the second ride,

with Doug on the back. Natalie, from CVALCO, and I road along on our

singles. This was all new (rough) chip seal. Only the school parking lot

could provide a comparison as to what regular pavement feels like to ride

on. So.... No 10 miles of riding as I had hoped. No fatigue factor to

experience (we were concerned that even 10 miles wasn't enough to relay the

fatigue factor), and no going on to and off of the new chip throughout the

ride so that they could all make a personal evaluation. I was very

disappointed at this. I still don't know how the Commissioner feels about

this surface, to ride on, because we were all continuously discussing

everything, and because there was essentially hardly any riding done.



We piled the bikes into the cars and drove over to Hill Rd., because Doug

wanted us to evaluate it. His point being, that this is what he could offer

us in the future, so that's what we should look at. By the time we got

there, we were running out of time. No time to unload and ride the bikes.

But Jay and I know Hill Rd. very well. A lot got discussed, standing there

in the heat. The bottom line of which is, they asked us both if Hill Rd.

was acceptable. We both stated that we considered it "just barely

acceptable".



Some other tid bits;



Confirmed... all Oregon counties but one are going to a 3/8" chip process.

Some, like Bend, are going to ?". Apparently counties are wanting to visit

Lane County to see how Doug is doing it. Of course, they're interested in

longevity and better application.... It just so happens (for our benefit)

that those efforts make the chip process smoother. We want to encourage

other counties to follow LC's application methods.



Commissioner Weeldreyer offered to speak at a GEARS meeting, and offered to

have Doug there as well.



I asked many times, "why are we doing this at all. Is there science to back

up the assertion that car safety is in jeopardy from what it's been all

these years". I could not get a direct answer to this. All he would say

is, "we had an opportunity to make an improvement to the process. Make it

better". We went round, and round, and round on this. All very civil, but

none of it really going anywhere. Clearly, there is a very wide gulf

between Public Work's view of the roadway system and it's users, and our

view of it. Cyclists are clearly not part of the equation... for any

county. If asked, they will say that they consider bicycles, but what I am

learning (and about other counties as well) cyclists, like us, are not

involved. That's bad, and is probably a large factor as to why there is

such a wide gulf between our views. If there is science to back up why

heavier aggregate is needed, it still eludes us. We carefully explained to

them, that in an attempt to improve traction for cars, you have pushed the

scale into the danger zone for cyclists.



There is a glimmer of hope. Doug showed signs of willingness to talk about

process changes. Maybe even a slight rock size change. And he wants to

talk about it this Fall and Winter. This is important. All other

indications to this point were that Public Works and the Roads Advisory

Committee would not be interested in discussion. So.... Even though I have

mentioned some alarming things (to us) that were said, I will say that Doug

is our only key with Public Works. Clearly, he is the one to be talking to,

when we do talk to Public Works. I have high hopes that he can help us

some. Doug said something very important; He said, "All I can say is...

hang in there with me. Give us a chance to do more of the roads with the

process used on Hill Rd., and we'll try some of these other things as well."

His offer sounded very sincere. I hope this spirit will carry through to

future meetings and actions.





In summary; There was some good news, but there is some bad too. All the

counties are running out of timber money. Over time, we need to encourage

the Commissioners to push for new taxes to pay for our roads. The process

of convincing the general public this is worth while may take more than a

decade. In the mean time, the County is trying to preserve what they have,

with the money the have, by chip sealing it as quickly as possible. They

asked us to convey the message; ... that they are doing this to save the

legacy of roads that we so fortunately have, from the timber era. They have

a point, in that a road like Wolf Creek would likely be gravel anywhere else

in the country.   It started out as a logging road. We're lucky it's paved

at all. One of the scariest things to occur to me through this whole thing,

is the sheer luck of it all... active cyclists continue to live here, or

move here, because of those roads... but the thing is, those roads weren't

built for us at all. It's just pure luck that we have them. Now that these

timber dollars are disappearing, it's going to be a major struggle to save

and preserve what we have .... And, this play (which will unfold over the

next two decades) will take place over the entire NorthWest.



It was explained to us..... money is running out, and we cannot afford to

overlay with asphalt. Chip sealing IS going to happen. Our job as cyclists

is to try and convince the Commissioners that it's worth spending just a

little more money, to improve the chip sealing process (do all roads

chipped, as hot oil chip), and, to save at least some roads from chipping at

all. We want to swing the pendulum back just a little. Convince them that

tourism and safety are worth it. At one point, Natalie noted to Doug, that

tourism is the third largest economic base for Lane County. Another

surprising thing that came out of this meeting that clearly indicates we

need better communication is that they thought that roads like Wolf Creek

and Poodle Creek were so far out that cyclists would never use them or be

concerned about what happens to them, when in reality, to us cyclists, they

are some of the most prized roads in the county.



I think we can make it through this next period... we are just barely

jumpin' on the tail gate of the truck at the right time. We just need to

keep a cycling presence in all this. As I understand it, the timber money

runs out in 2002. Most people don't realize this yet. Can you imagine the

"rats on a sinking ship" situation that's going to happen in that last year,

by all the other groups upset that money is being siphoned away. We're

getting the head start now. Hopefully, we'll be in the backs...rather

forefronts of the decision maker's minds when the really heavy chopping

begins.



Commissioner Weeldreyer essentially asked me, when will the emails stop?

She wanted to know what we would do to spread the word on what got discussed

at the ride. I don't necessarily think the flow should stop per se'. It's

just that the message has changed slightly. We're not controlling people.

We're encouraging cyclists to decide for themselves, and state their

opinions. No one should waste a Commissioners time, but it was made clear

to us at the meeting.... No one at the County, fully realizes how large the

cycling population is. Everyone has a right to speak out. I'm even

thinking of sending in a radical idea of charging fees to cyclists. I'd

gladly hand over $20 a year if it meant that a couple more roads were paved.



Before I forget, I want to publically thank Commissioner Cindy Weeldreyer

for arranging this test ride, and sponsoring the discussions with Public

Works. The heat was an unbearable 98 degrees, but she did not cancel the

meeting, and never once mentioned it. Truly amazing. And I'd like to thank

Natalie for coming out. I know she will relay all of this information to

CVALCO and it's board, which works closely with the Lane County board. And

I'd like to thank Doug for coming out, and listening to what we had to say.

He's a very likable person. He's a river rafter and a mountain climber....

Doug, we'll make you a road cyclist yet. <Grin>. Lastly, I want to thank

Jay. Jay is a Civil Engineer, and he speaks the language of road

construction well. Without his comments there is nooooo way we would have

gotten this far.



Final message: Go ride Hill Rd. This is your cycling future! Decide for

yourself. Some folks may decide there is nothing wrong at all with this

surface. Others may disagree with us, and say that it is in fact, not

acceptable. If you have feedback, let me know so that it can be represented

at the Roads Advisory Committee meetings.



Thanks for your support and interest. Go cycling.





- Bill Brown-Gierga