HomeMy WebLinkAbout20011349.tiff OFFICE OF BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
915 10TH STREET
P.O. BOX 758
1 GREELEY, COLORADO 80632
WEBSITE: www.co.weld.co.us
CPHONE: 970-356-4000, 4200
O FAX: 970-352-0242
COLORADO
May 11, 2001
Mr. LaRue Johnson
Mrs. Mary Johnson
5701 WCR 13
Windsor, CO 80550
Re: Concerns with WCR 13, WCR 68.5 to WCR 74
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Johnson:
This letter will serve as a reply to your recent e-mail to the Board of Commissioners and Frank
Hempen, Jr., Director of Public Works.
Your road has inadvertently served as a partial detour for traffic during the improvement project to
the WCR 15/74 intersection. Recent counts indicate that the WCR 76-designated detour was
handling nearly 1,400 vehicles per day while 370 vehicles per day used parts of WCR 13. We
apologize for that inconvenience.
A significant effort was made to upgrade WCR 76 in preparation for its use as the designated detour.
When the traffic counts for WCR 13 indicated it too was being used by an average of 250 vehicles
more per day than not mal,the Department of Public Works staff placed more gravel on the road and
dust suppressants in front of homes.
Unfortunately, several snow storms and three days of steady rainfall created havoc along these roads
as they did for many gravel roads throughout the county. This combination of climatic conditions
will always create some inconveniences for the traveling public.
Our road crews have been working hard to correct deficiencies reshaping all roads. Repairs are
being made to WCRs 13 and 76. Dust suppressants will again be applied in front of homes along
WCR 13 south of WCR 74.
2001-1349
1 ( icf. „,,
/— I
Mr. LaRue Johnson
Mrs. Mary Johnson
May 11, 2001
Page 2
The construction will restart on the WCR 15/74 intersection next week. If weather permits, work
should be sufficiently complete by the Labor Day weekend to allow its use by motorists. Opening
WCR 74 should eliminate some of the additional traffic using WCR 13.
I have instructed the Director of Public Works to do traffic counts, vehicle classification, and speed
studies on your segment of WCR 13 after the detour traffic has ceased. That information will
determine whether it meets minimum criteria for consideration as a future improvements project.
If it does, we will include it along with other projects being discussed with Larimer County.
If you have further questions, please call Frank Hempen, Jr., Director of Public Works, at
970-356-4000, Extension 3750.
Sincerely,
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
l-
M. J. Geile, Chair
pc: Frank B. Hempen, Jr., Director of Public Works/County Engineer
WCR 13 file
Page e 1
•
From: LaRue Johnson <Ilama@vth.colostate.edu>
To: <fhempen@co.weld.co.us>
Date: 5/4/01 1:03PM
Subject: Weld County Road 13
Attached you will find a current letter from my wife and I
as well as the historic communication we have previously
sent regarding the County line road in our locale. Please
minimally respond to our concerns and of course we hope for
some major improvement in the near future.
Sincerely,
LaRue W. Johnson
LaRue Johnson
Colorado State University VTH
Fort Collins, CO 80523
llama@vth.colostate.edu
CC: <gbaxter@co.weld.co.us>, <gvaad@coweld.co.us>,< gvaad@coweld.co.us>, <bkirkmeyer@co.weld.co.us>,
<bendertg@co.larimer.co.us>,
<rennelkc@co.larimer.co.us>,
g@co.larimer.co.us>, <gibsongw@co.larimer.co.us>, <millerdl@co.larimer.co.us>
r' tins - WCR13 #2
Page 6
9
"0 August4,1999
To: Weld County Public Works(Engineering Division)
933 N. 11th Ave.
Greeley, CO 80631
Larimer County Public Works(Road and Bridge Dept.)
218 W. Mountain
Fort Collins, CO 80521
cc. Weld and Larimer County Commissioners
From: LaRue and Mary Johnson
5701 WCR 13
Windsor, CO 80550
To Whom it may concern:
As a follow-up to the previous letter, a copy of which is enclosed, we again request your attention to the
condition and inequity of care to the road variably referred to as WCR 13, Lorimer Cty. Rd. 1 or simply the •
county line road. This road is paved 3 miles north of us and 1 mile south of us while we have a regularly
graded gravel road that within 24 hrs. after the Monday morning grading is very corrugated and weather •
not cooperating is extremely dusty. Now, we appreciate that apparently you two counties attend to •
•
different stretches of the boundary, and that the development of the Windsor area no doubt has some
influence in sporadic"improvements". However, is it not possible to get on with the inevitable? While I
gather that there may have been some effort to assess the traffic flow on this stretch of road, you really
need to also get some feeling for the speed of traffic as well as the amount of larger vehicle traffic. Do I
presume that an improved road surface will slow down and reduce traffic...?, of course not, but at least it
will provide a safer situation for what we now perceive as a very dangerous one especially at the railway
crossing. On a recent return trip from Windsor, I was met by a fast moving gravel truck. It conservatively
took a full minute for the dust to clear for me to safely proceed forward. There are incidentally, increasing
numbers of small children in homes along this stretch of road for whom fast traffic and dust presents a
real threat. Please prioritize this stretch of road for your upgrading considerations. Or as an alternative,
could you post speed limit signs that are consistent with a RR crossing and gravel road?
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,ollins WCR 13 2001 age
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MAY 4, 2001
To: Weld County Public Works (Engineering Division)
933 N. 11th Ave. 6
Greeley, CO 80631
Larimer County Public Works (Road and Bridge Dept.) ^D
218 W. Mountain
Fort Collins, CO 80521
Cc.Weld and Larimer County Commissioners
From: LaRue and Mary Johnson •
5701 WCR 13
Windsor, CO 80550
Dear All:
It seems that the condition of our access road, WCR13/LCR 1 has gone from the normal of horrible to
atrocious in the current situation of it becoming a detour route during the construction on the WCR74/15
intersection. While I appreciate the necessity for a detour route and no doubt your best made plans were
for traffic to follow the signs but unfortunately about half of the traffic comes south. Now,the entire stretch
•
of the County line road from LCR40/WCR 76 to the Windsor road appears as if it has been bombed and
strafed.Yesterday, I naively drove to Severance following the detour and now found ruts up to 8 inches
deep but did observe two graders moving in tandem essentially rearranging mud.
We now observe 2 speeds of traffic, with some going understandably very slowly and others still going at
incredible speeds that I presume to avoid hitting the bottom of potholes and skipping on the tops of
corrugations. The amount of semi-truck traffic and farm machinery traffic coupled with this weather has
• surely caused the road base to be broken, but a proper road prepared for this onslaught would have surely
been advised.
I have lived in several 3rd world countries and yes have traveled on equally as bad roads, but believe me
no one was paying taxes for their upkeep and no one was really living along the roads. As will be noted
from copies of the previous letters sent to you, we feel there is an inequity of care of this road. Yes, I know
that Weld County has occasionally put out a counter for 24 hours to monitor traffic. Why didn't you put one
out during this current mess?Yes, I know it would have had a detour bias, but during intense agriculture
activity on this road there is a tremendous amount of traffic that I don't believe you appreciate. While the
residents along the road acknowledge that during "normal"times, the road is graded weekly. Even under
the best of weather conditions, there will be one of two results from the grading. It will either leave a very
soft surface or one that has residual corrugations that by the next morning are already very annoying.
Without knowing the reality, residents feel that grader operators are sent to W CR13 to learn how to grade.
Even before this current weather precipitated disaster,the noise of trucks and trailers hitting potholes, the
drifting dust coming form the stretches of road that were not"sealed"and the speed of vehicles going over
the RR tracks were both alarming and dangerous. I would hope that some of you would please drive out
and minimally inspect the current situation and for us as taxpayers in Larimer County, I would hope that
some means of achieving equity for care of this road is possible. Why should LCR 36 receive such special
care or does it have something to do with the Colorado Rockies? And do we appreciate the fact that it is a
decent stretch of road allowing us to avoid 1 mile of W CR13 for trips west. We have essentially been Fort •
Collins oriented people but with approaching retirement had been becoming Windsor oriented.Turning
right out of our driveway means a mile of hell while turning left only means 200 yards of hell. Can't
something be done about this hell?
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August 16,1998
To: Weld County Public Works(Engineering Division)
933 N. 11th Ave.
Greeley, CO 80631
Larimer County Public Works(Road and Bridge Dept.)
218 W. Mountain
Fort Collins, CO 80521
cc.Weld and Larimer County Commissioners
From: LaRue and Mary Johnson
5701 WCR 13
Windsor, CO 80550
Dear All:
Perhaps after living for 20 years on the Larimer side of the county line and dealing with all the frustrations
of a Windsor PO, a Ft. Collins telephone,4 children having attended the Poudre School District, vehicles
'.. being registered in Larimer County but annually being told that I must go to Greeley for registration, a
Greeley domestic water tap and all the while being employed at CSU in Ft. Collins and doing equal
•
amounts of our shopping in Windsor and Ft. Collins you just might be receptive to our following frustration:
We live on Weld Cty. Rd. 13(also could be called Larimer Cty. Rd. 1), approximately 1 mile south of
Colorado Hwy. 68 (the Harmony/Severance Rd.). This is a gravel road that has over the tenure of our
residency served the residents and agricultural community and has been regularity"maintained" by
weekly grading from Weld County. This road is of course getting more use now that Windsor area is
rapidly growing and the weekly grading is not holding up over the interval. The grading generally occurs on
Mondays and the residual corrugation is already bad by Tuesday morning which of course gets
progressively worse during the remainder of the week. Moreover, the windrow of gravel that is left at the
margins of the road as well as lots of loose gravel between the wheel tracks is not a safe situation
considering that many drivers are traveling "the limit+" (which I'm told by the Colorado State Patrol is 55 •
mph). In addition, the railroad tracks currently utilized by Great Western cross the road on our property
and are regularity graveled over by the grader. We have crossed our fingers as the infrequent train comes
by hoping that it can stay on the tracks. Last but surely not least is the nagging dust that fills the air when
one of the large trucks rockets by.As a CSU veterinarian frequenting the rural communities. I (LJ)travel
many gravel roads and find few as dangerous as this stretch of Weld Cty. Rd. 13.
So, having shared our frustration, We now offer our solution which is to seal the surface. Already, the road •
is sealed or black topped one mile south and sealed 3 miles north of us. I'm assuming that Weld and •
Larimer Counties share the maintenance of county line roads and many of the roads in Larimer county •
appear to be sealed. It would seem that the weekly expense of grading the road (quite frankly with
questionable value)could be replaced with the initial sealing and minimal follow-up maintenance as
appears to be the case with the sealed roads in our area.
In summary, as Larimer county taxpayers,we expect that some attention should be given to our concerns
•
and that minimally you will respond by contacting us with your proposal. I would encourage you to in
person witness the road's condition in the gravel as well as the transition into the sealed state, especially
south of us where the traffic on the surface will have been essentially identical.
Thanks in advance for your attention to this matter.
Respectfully, •
LaRue W. Johnson DVM,PhD and Mary E. Johnson
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