Newberg-Dundee Bypass Project Status Update

I just heard that the bypass work will be restarting in the next several weeks.  ODOT has not responded to my last several emails regarding safety concerns and suggestions, including when their contractor drove the sweeper into my lawn (to avoid hitting his boss who was going too fast around the corner).

I reached out to the Newberg Graphic, who agreed to send a reporter to investigate if the next phase of construction continues to be unsafe for the residents of South East Dundee.

In addition, I made a plea tonight at the Dundee City Council that more effort be put towards safety and possibly sound mitigation (and less towards art work).

Please join with me in pushing for the next phase of construction to be safer or I fear that the contractor will end up hurting someone in our neighborhood and I'm scared that my wife and daughter are closest to the risk living right next to their base camp.  Road work machinery provides no room for error and its size decimates most things you would find in a residential neighborhood.

This is the email I sent to ODOT after the meeting tonight-
Good evening,

I just wanted to follow up in writing what I said at the city council meeting (and hopefully be a little more clear).

My calls for safety during the last phase of the Bypass were ignored as evidenced by the incidents almost to the day the contractor left.  I've sent a list of those incidents before so I won't send them again but I would like to ask that moving forward the site workers:

Obey the speed limit

Put the contractor company and a ref # on all trucks being used on site so residents can complain specifically about offensive vehicles

Establish a safety committee that is required for the GC and all subs and put a community member on the committee.  I would be happy to volunteer.  This should be a re-occurring meeting with notes taken so continuing offenses can be documented.

I'm afraid that if you don't establish some of these industry best practices for working in a residential neighborhood you will hurt someone.  Again, the 1st phase of the project demonstrated that potential with several near-injury incidents.

Because the last several times I've written ODOT about incidents and suggestions I've received no response I reached out to the Newberg Graphic.  They've agreed that if the next phase continues to operate in an unsafe manner they are willing to send out a reporter to investigate.

Please, for the sake of my family, make the next contractor act like he's in a residential neighborhood.  Heavy civil construction isn't home construction.  When accidents happen with big equipment people get seriously hurt or die.  My degree is in construction management and I've worked Heavy Civil jobs across the West as a Project Engineer for both Granite and Kitchell.  I know the damage heavy machinery can cause.

And on that note, please don't put the office across the street from our house.  It increases the traffic in our neighborhood and we often have to listen to cussing all day.  It's quite clear in our home and that's not the environment I want my wife and daughter in even if I can handle it (and I'm moving to rotating shiftwork so I too will be home on weekdays).

Looking forward to a better experience with the next phase,

Isaiah

Newberg-Dundee Bypass ODOT Complete Lack of Management of Costs and Community Care

Meet our new neighbor thanks to the Dundee Newberg Bypass project - an open sewer manhole pumping sewage with a 24/7 diesel generator that resonates within our home.  And of course they start it up on a Friday and scamper off to their homes likely because they knew I'd be beating on the construction trailer door.  Sure enough, no one onsite  to complain at.

We're not the first to be shown this inconsideration.

There's the couple down the road whose property has been split in two, and ODOT says they'll have no access to the back half, but isn't paying them for it.

At the April 24 Dundee budget committee, meeting one of the city staffers mentioned that they'd found a possible solution to not having to bore and jack a utility under the fill which would potentially save ODOT hundreds of thousands and ODOT hadn't seemed interested.  That's our tax dollars!  Remember teachers aren't being paid enough and we still have that sort of attitude at the state.

Then there's the couple that had to threaten to sue before ODOT would pay them enough to live in a home similar to the one that was being condemned for the project.  He had a house with a separate workshop and ODOT wanted to pay enough for an apartment.  That conflict garnered a cable TV news story. Here's the news piece -



This is on top of what my wife and I see daily demonstrated in front of the house.  We've seen an accident at the intersection when a construction dump truck backed into a local driving by.  We've seen one of the workers take out the neighbors cat by stomping on the accelerator to make sure he got it.  After numerous complaints about safety ODOT's never said a thing about what they're doing to control it, they only say they hope Phase 2 will be better.

I've been a project engineer on-site for the managing firm for two large civil projects, the Reno ReTRAC and the Hokuli'a Subdivision.  I can say from experience, this is very poor project management.

Killing Cats, Hitting Old Men, and Running Over Bicyclists

Today we witnessed a concerning accident.

We were home and witnessed a haul truck, stopped at the Parks Dr Stop sign, back into a white car.  The white car was honking.  The haul truck driver was on his phone.  After striking the white car he remained on his phone while the little old man he struck yelled at him for a minute.  When the driver did get out of his truck it was apparent that there was no resolution and the two drivers started yelling at each other.  From the window it appeared your driver was trying to convince the white car there was no damage. They each drove off separate directions.

 

We continue to not be impressed with site safety and conduct. 

 

We can't figure out why the haul truck was backing up and we're concerned it could have been us, even us out for a walk with our baby, not just us in a car.  It was clear the driver was not aware of the other vehicles around him when he did a very dangerous action by unexpectedly backing up at an intersection.   

 

Then, for the driver of the offending haul truck to act in the manner we witnessed toward the other driver is entirely unacceptable.

 

The old Project Manager told me that it was one of the site construction trucks that struck a cyclist several months ago in Newberg as well.

 

And I remember their first week on the job when the site mechanic ran over my neighbors cat for fun, with me watching as I got in my car to go to work.  He claimed it "was an accident".  He can say what he wants but I'm not a moron.  I've sped up for a squirrel/bird or two myself.

 

He also got in a yelling match with me when I yelled at his truck, "real nice!".  He slammed on his brakes, backed up and acted aggressively.  Of course I didn't back down and he eventually drove off but I was stewing for a week.

 

The neighbor told me that the cat was the only thing he had of his sister's; she had passed away two years ago.

Deforestation of Wildlife Habitat and Community Sound Barrier - Newberg-Dundee Bypass

I'm starting this blog because I've become fed up with how inconsiderate the Newberg Dundee Bypass project is considering the residents of Dundee.  This first post is a photo of the harvested forest that WAS between us and the road.  They are in the process of taking out the trees all along the South East side of Dundee although they're well away from the proposed road (in the above photo, the proposed road is back where the crane and red truck are; the road you see is simply one of many access roads blighting our community now).

I have no idea why they are doing this.  I hope they did their environmental studies because I'm sure there were all sorts of critters in these woods, especially since there is a small creek that runs through it.  Just the night before this came out I was on a walk and stopped to listen to an owl sitting in the trees that are no longer there.  A big, majestic 100+ year old Oak is next along their march north.

If you'd like to see how rich and thick this area is/was look at the satellite view of the area in google -
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=dundee,+or&hl=en&ll=45.271819,-123.00544&spn=0.001046,0.002468&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=38.502405,80.859375&t=h&hnear=Dundee,+Yamhill+County,+Oregon&z=19

Beyond the environmental consideration, this stretch of woods would provide a sound barrier for the South East residents of Dundee.  I reached out to the Superintendent with ODOT to ask why these woods were being removed.  He replied, "for future facilities".

I checked the project map at their website and nothing is shown in this area.  I sent him the map, and asked, "Nothing is shown, can you tell me what is planned?".  He did not respond.

This is just one example of the inconsiderate treatment of the South side of Dundee.  I'll blog  more about the 200+, per day, double trailer rock haul trucks that drive past our homes and bus stops.  There is a long list of other issues like not providing people access to their property, unsafe driving by site employees, trespassing, gross misspending of public tax dollars, etc.