Work Starting Before 6 Shakes our Home

They've parked this thing outside our home.  Shakes our entire home and it's been starting as early as 530 AM this week.  It looks like it could easily be anywhere else.  Why here?  Typical ODOT.  Who am I going to complain to? Their imaginary oversight?  Perhaps the PR firm they hired to spin everything related to the public and whom the news channels love.

Haul Trucks Driving Across Our Lawn

This morning I woke up to witness Bypass haul trucks driving across our lawn.  In the below picture you can see their very clear tire marks going straight into our lawn.  They've built a haul road, so they wouldn't need to drive by our house, but they continue to put our neighborhood at risk.  I went out and parked my car far at this spot to cut off their corner, and then they started using their haul road.  So frustrated with ODOT: these people that have forgot the old adage, do unto others as you would they do unto you.  That's what happens when you have NO oversight.

Haul Trucks and Scrapers Blasting Across Residential Roads with no Traffic Control

The date is May 7th, 2015 and the above picture shows a haul truck in front of our house in the completely wrong lane on the other side of a mostly blind corner with no stop sign.  When he saw I was taking photos he made a last ditch effort to stop.

The last project I was on considered a truck with trailer 27 cubic yards of rock.  Consider how fast that can stop.  Now consider if someone didn't know and they were flying around that corner a little quick.  Say a high schooler, which I often see. I am scared of a disaster.

Also, on Fulquartz, just around the corner they have scrapers crossing Fulquartz at up to 20 MPH I'd guess, without stopping.  Just flying through.  It's like a scene you'd see in the farcical Russian youtube.

I've complained to ODOT.  Their Project Manager simply vehemently denies they are putting anyone at risk.  I've reached out to the Newberg Police, they say they are on it but I'm unsure how.

Fulquartz should be closed.  It's only a matter of time until a tourist is taking Fulquartz to bypass a jam on Highway 99 (which commonly happens) and meets a Scraper.  Or a high schooler flys around the corner in front of our house.

I've given up on anyone helping.  I simply write this to put in writing, on the web, that I warned ODOT and Newberg/Dundee. If disaster does happen I hope this is admissible in court.  

I even joined the Dundee Planning Committee to be involved at the city level and petition for safety but all I've found is the City is completely cowed to ODOT.

I can't find any oversight body for ODOT.  They do what they want, how they want.  And they don't seem to listen to input.

Sometimes I park my car in front of my house on the street side to force them into their lane and away from my side of the street (because they are almost driving on my lawn as it is... and sometimes they are, come see the tire tracks).  I'm allowed to park street side park for 72 hours per city code. This seems like a pathetic fix that only makes the construction people angry.  We need true enforcement, not construction workers angry with the neighbors.

Property Damage to Our Property by Bypass, Complete Disregard of Residents of Dundee

Here's more fun with the Newberg-Dundee Bypass project.  I had to send this tonight to the Police, City and ODOT -
Dear Police Chief Casey as well as City of Dundee & ODOT leadership.

Tonight I came home to our entire front yard and my driveway striped 25 feet from the edge of pavement of Parks DR.  Please see pictures.  This is in complete disregard of the No Trespassing sign I have posted on the front yard.  Police Chief Casey, I'd greatly appreciate if you could send someone out and review whether this is vandalism especially since they painted my driveway (see pictures).

What blows me even farther away  is that someone would do this without talking to us.  You were 10 feet outside our front door!  How do you think that makes my family feel about their safety to have some strange man wandering around in front of our house?!  I believe that without talking to us first about whatever it is causing you to paint our yard, you even put your own man at some risk.  This painting is well beyond what a normal person would consider the Right of Way for a city.

In the below picture the paint is where my measuring tape handle is at

When this occurred earlier this year, both ODOT and the city disavowed any knowledge of this prompting me to put up the No Trespassing sign because no one could man up and tell us what's planned for our front yard.  This shows further complete disregard for the neighborhood/residents of Dundee by the Bypass project.

Would someone please let us know what is going on and why you feel the need to paint our yard?  We do live here and take some pride in our home!!  It is the biggest purchase of our life, and we are there everyday.

And if there's some grand plan to take out the intersection of Parks and Edwards and smooth the road through our yard, I will fight it and get all of the neighbors to fight it.  We already hate how fast traffic is and facilitating even faster flow seems very wrong and I'm sure all the neighbors will agree!!  As I write this there's a little girl walking in the road out the front window in the middle of that corner.  Is that really where you want future "bypassers" (because it will still happen) flowing even faster?!

Please, let us know what is going on and treat us like we live here, not like we're an inconvenience to your project.

Isaiah and Kellie Cox

Bypass Work Starting at 5 AM Hard on Family Sleep

Well, twice in the last two weeks we've had bypass work going past, or in front of our house at 5 in the morning.  Two weeks ago it was backup alarms and loading an excavator at 5.  I went out and talked to the driver and he told me he had permits to start that early.  Yesterday it was haul trucks.  Fun stuff.

I sleep through anything but yesterday was the first day my wife tearfully told me she regretted us buying this house last August. True it was just after I'd yelled at a haul truck to slow down and he's slid to a stop glaring at me trying to decide if he'd get out and attack me.  I was hoping he would.  It would really show the attitude these projects have towards our neighborhood.

Our realtor had said, "Oh, they've been talking about a bypass for 30 years, it'll never happen" last July when we first looked at the house.  Construction started the next week.  Fun stuff.

The city of Dundee ordinances say construction noise can begin at 7 AM weekdays and 9 AM on weekends (section 8.28 Noise). The Bypass crosses through City limits on Edwards and the hauling yesterday was from a site in town to a site in town.

Here's video of the 5 AM work -

Haul Trucks Putting Us at Risk Again

So that's my little Suzuki which I placed out there as a "we live here hint".  You can see in the video how well that's working.  My wife and I often drive through the intersection they are blowing through. There is a stop sign under the tree they are disregarding. I will be sending this to the police as they didn't seem to believe me when I didn't have video.

Reminder - Newberg Dundee police are responsible for construction traffic safety.  If you are having problems with construction traffic you can contact them at:   (503) 538-8321

Newberg Dundee Bypass Traffic Safety Complaints Contact Number

It's taken me a year of calling ODOT but I've finally been told by ODOT, and it was confirmed by the police chief, that ODOT have given all responsibility for traffic safety on the Newberg Dundee Bypass to the police department.  They are even contributing dollars for increased enforcement to match the increased traffic.

This following is from the Newberg-Dundee Chief of Police (in an email to me in response to an email I'll post below) -
"The police department is responsible for enforcing traffic laws so we will respond if there are violations occurring.  The officers who previously worked the area reported back that the overwhelming majority of trucks were complying with the speed limit and other traffic laws."

The non-emergency contact number for the Newberg-Dundee police is:

503-538-8321

Here's the email chain with ODOT and the police department:

Dear Police Chief Casey,

First let me say thank you.  After I complained last year about the intersection outside our home (Parks, Edwards, Fulquartz) and the many near incidents my wife and I have seen and heard, I've noticed more officers pass through.

I'm writing you because I, and every neighbor I've spoken with, were very unhappy with the driving of the contractors during the 1st phase of the bypass project (which was part of my concern to you last year). I've engaged both the city (I was at the last City Council meeting) and ODOT on this issue.  The City (cc'd) asked ODOT to respond to my concerns because they had not (in a way that made any commitments to safety). ODOT's "area manager" (cc'd on this email) responded that they rely on your department, and partially fund it, to ensure traffic enforcement.

I've copied the most recent email exchange (this week) between myself and ODOT in below.  Mr Potter tries to make it sound like I haven't talked to ODOT in person, but I've often talked to ODOT as noted in my reply, which is also pasted in.  They have made no changes or given any feedback other than essentially "we're fine".

Here's a list of incidents and why I don't think they are fine:

·         I'm getting in my car one morning and I hear a diesel truck floor the throttle. I turn and see the neighbor’s cat scrambling out of the road as the site mechanic swerves to the middle to run it over.  I yelled "Real nice man!".  He locks up his brakes and comes back to get in a yelling argument with me, with threatening overtones, about his rights to run over cats in the road.

·         My wife is on the couch downstairs and watches a haul truck back up in the intersection and hit an old man's car.  The driver gets out, still on the phone, and the old man tries to get his info.  The driver argues with the old man about how there's no damage.  Unfortunately my wife didn't get pictures because we weren't yet to the point of documenting the Bypass safety issues.  We tried to get ahold of ODOT and received no response.

·         I come home to find ruts and a burn mark in my yard.  Another group of contractors, installing some sewer in Fulquartz, come over to tell me they watched the one of the Bypass pickups come around the corner too fast and their street sweeper had to evade into our yard. He said he wasn't by his phone so unfortunately he couldn't get pictures in time but he tried. I do have a photo of the ruts and burn mark which due to size clearly point to the sweeper.

·         I spoke to their site manager in the site trailer who assured me he had no authority and only the police could enforce road safety.  This is completely bogus.  I have been on numerous highway projects and the CM has all the authority.  I even have stickers on my hard hat that read "Be Safe or Be Gone", which was enforced.

·         I talked to my neighbor (Shannon, 1st house North or ours on Edwards) who said that she stopped several of the site trucks to ask them to slow down.  Their response was to flip her off when they saw her.

·         The haul trucks were not stopping at Edwards/Parks until I repeatedly complained that we drive and walk around the corner and they were putting us at risk.  They then made half hearted attempts to stop and you may still be able to see the skid marks on the road where many of the trucks would drive as quick as they could until almost the corner and then lock it up to stop very briefly.

·         I talked to Mr. Snow, who was the first project manager in the trailer.  He confided in me that the truck that hit the cyclist in Newberg last year was somehow associated with the Bypass and he was "trying" to get better on-site driving.  He left the job shortly thereafter.

·         We continually had site employees jumping on their throttle as they left the site trailer or came around the corner in a way that none of the neighbors would do (seemed to not recognize they were operating in a neighborhood).

·         About two weeks ago a herd of F250s blew through our stop sign going way too fast.  Realizing that it looked like a bypass entourage I jump in my car and drove down to the bypass closer to the river and sure enough it was the next contractor doing a walk through.  I told them I’d appreciate them stopping at the corner and one of them said they would.

I’m sure I can’t remember all of the incidents.  After talking to their on-site manager, and their ODOT representative Kraig Kanoff, things never got better.  I then engaged the person they hired to respond to community concerns who also gave me a lot of platitudes but never an action of how they would address safety.  Then, they started ignoring me.  They never responded about the sweeper in our yard or the truck hitting the old man’s car in the intersection.

My wife felt trapped in the house because she couldn’t go for walks with this type of traffic in front of our house.  Last night I was talking to the woman that is the last house South on paved Edwards and she told me she’d only let her boys play in the backyard.

What I’m hoping is that the next phase of the project shows our neighborhood more respect, and that the driving exhibited would be what you would expect in a residential neighborhood.  According to ODOT, your team is largely responsible for that (see below email from ODOT).  I would greatly appreciate your help in making the second phase of the Bypass project go better.

I believe the second phase of the Bypass is set to start in the next week or two.

Thanks,

Isaiah Cox

860 SE Parks DR

Letter from ODOT

Mr. Cox,

            My name is Tim Potter. I am the Area Manager with the responsibility for delivery of the Newberg Dundee Bypass project. Thanks for contacting us. I want to take this opportunity to address the concerns you noted in your email.

First, I want to assure you that we take safety very seriously, and the Oregon Department Of Transportation and the Oregon contracting community have a long track record of cooperation in this regard. We regularly meet with law enforcement as well as the Association of General Contractors (AGC), the trade association to which a majority of Oregon civil contractors belong. There is a separate committee that works to address the contracting language around the safety protocols used on ODOT and other civil works jobs within the state, and ODOT  actively participates on that committee. I realize that your perception of our focus on safety may be different. Please call me to discuss your concerns directly.  We have spoken with the contractor about the issues you have raised, and we have addressed your concerns with him.

·         Regarding obeying the speed limit, we worked very closely with the Newberg-Dundee police department to have ongoing monitoring of the contractor’s vehicles as they traversed the communities. The police chief reported to both city councils in that regard, and found very consistently that the haul vehicles were obeying the traffic laws. We also provide extra funding to both local and state police forces to increase patrolling in the vicinity of our projects, with the goal to improve compliance. That will continue to be the case as this project progresses.

·         The labeling of the trucks is strictly up to the contractor, and their compliance with motor carrier laws. We will not intervene in that.

·         As mentioned above, the contracting rules are well established, as is the protocol for safety compliance. We will not be establishing a separate committee, as the responsibility for safety resides with ODOT and the contractor. If there are specific instances of violation, then please let us know of them, and we will take the appropriate action either as determined by our contract, or through law enforcement. 

·         We will be happy to meet with reporters from the local media, and, in fact do so regularly. Please refer them to me if you have instances in the future about which you feel you must call them. Or I would encourage you to contact me directly first, to see if we can resolve the issues.

·         We are well aware of the dangers posed by heavy equipment. Me and my staff have decades of experience in civil construction and other heavy industries, and we work with contractors who also have been in the business for many, many years.

As we have in the past, I would again invite you to contact me directly so that we can sit down and discuss your concerns face to face or by phone. I realize that email is convenient, but it is rarely a suitable method to discuss issues of importance, and I know that this is a very important issue, both to you and to ODOT. Please call me so we can schedule a time to meet or talk.

Best regards,

Tim Potter

Area 3 Manager ODOT Region 2 885 Airport Rd SE Salem, Oregon 97301 Ph 503-986-2764 Fax 503-986-2881

My Response:

Tim,

To paraphrase, your email seems to say that you find mine, and my neighbors concerns, without merit and you will do nothing to address them.

I have spoke face to face with authorities on your project team.  Numerous times I walked over to the project office and expressed my concerns to the project manager.  He assured me he had no authority to improve safety and only the police department does.  This is completely bogus.  As a project manager, holding the subcontracts, you too are responsible for safety. I too have industry experience and to say only the police can monitor the traffic on the job site is completely bogus.

I have also called ODOT, and safety did not improve.  I've spoke with Krag Kanoff several times.  He asked me to respond in email and your nice marketing lady for last phase continually told me things would get better, which they did not.

I have sent in specific incidents by email for which ODOT never responded, including property damage when your contractor ran his own man off the road into our yard, leaving ruts and a burn mark.  I sent this in by email and no one responded!

I am putting this in email so it is in writing.  I feel the safety concerns that I've been addressing may become a harsh reality if someone gets hurt.  I want my safety petitions to you well documented.

I think you misunderstood about the reporter.  We're going to ask a reporter out as a community to address our frustration with our perception of your safety and lack of empathy for the east side of Dundee.

In conclusion, I, and the others on the East of Dundee, are at a point where we'd like to hear some steps taken to address our safety concerns.  I realize I haven't communicated in person with you, but I have communicated with a number of other ODOT individuals.  I don't have much desire to have another conversation.  I want action.

Steps we'd like to see include giving the residents of East Dundee a phone number of someone with real authority to address unsafe driving or offensive behaviour (and when reported actual action taken and feedback provided to the complaintant).  We'd also like to be able to identify the trucks on the site so we can point to specific offendors.  And it would be great if the project office was not across the street from our homes.  Why not put it closer to the river where there isn't any homes?

I personally have told my wife to film and/or photograph any incidents in the future if possible and I will be doing so as well.

I've emailed with the Newberg police chief before.  Now that I know how strongly you are counting on his team to be the enforcers of traffic violations I will also forward this email on to him tonight with an explanation of my point of view.

Thanks for your response,

Isaiah