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