Spur Ranch Road Morning Update - Tuesday 01_17_12

Good morning, everybody.

 

I checked out Avenida de los Compadres earlier this morning and it is an undrivable mess, with puddles of water and deep muddy ruts. Best to avoid it now. If it dries out enough to be graded, we will try to make it passable.

 

However, all lanes of Spur Ranch Road are currently open to traffic (8:00a.m), with volunteer flaggers at each end advising vehicles of driving conditions.  At this time, the road surface is frozen and easily drivable, but once it thaws out it may become slippery again, but not as bad as yesterday.

 

It is unclear whether the road will dry out enough today for construction work to resume. If the road machines resume work later today, one lane will be kept open for traffic, with the possibility of short delays. Flaggers at each end of the road will manage the traffic flow.

 

The road segment between the RR tracks to Silver Saddle has not yet been graded or compacted, and the dirt/clay mix is very wet. Current plans are to stack the mix along one lane to permit it to dry. Thus, that segment of the road may have only one lane open for a couple of days.

 

For those of you who are interested in the technical reasons the road surface has not firmed up yet, I’ll shortly forward to the community an email on that topic from the RoadPacker CEO, Michael McDermott.

 

Regards,

Jim

 

 

 

Spur Ranch Road - 4:30pm Update Monday _01_16_12

Dear Neighbors,

The extremely unfortunate turn of weather seriously impacted travel on our road earlier today, with rain throughout the day and nearly 0.5 inches of accumulation since last night. Avenida de los Compadres is no longer passable, even with 4WD vehicles, and earlier in the day Spur Ranch Road was very slippery. Several cars with 2WD slid off the road and had to be towed.

The grader was out about an hour ago widening the section of road from Silver Saddle to the RR tracks, so it is much improved. I just drove the entire road in 2WD and it was somewhat slippery, but I had no trouble going both directions.  

Nevertheless, my advice is to stay at home tonight if possible, unless you have a 4WD vehicle. If you have an emergency or compelling need to leave and feel it is unsafe to drive your car, then call me (466-8833) and we’ll arrange transportation for you.

If you do choose to drive the road, then be aware that the most slippery part is the slight uphill grade east of Silver Saddle towards 285. Keep your car in first or second gear, move at a slow constant speed (say 15-20mph), keep to the center, and avoid accelerating or braking. Be especially careful when you move out of the road center toward a driveway. That seems to be where most folks have had trouble.

I’ll send another update if there’s any significant change in road conditions.

Regards,

Jim

 

 

Spur Ranch Road Update - Sunday 01_15

Dear Neighbor,

The contractor has informed us today that work on the road should be completed tomorrow afternoon. Note the word “should,” which we’ve heard before. After the road is finished, the road crew will spend a day or two cleaning up and restoring the property damaged by road machinery and work crew vehicles, but that should not be an impediment to traffic.

As of 5:30 p.m. this evening, the road had been nicely graded, crowned and sheeps-footed (?) from Rte 285 down to the driveway at 78 SRR, needing now only a finally rolling. The remaining 0.2 mi from that driveway to the RR tracks is currently one-lane only, with piles of dirt blocking the south lane. However the dirt has already been mixed with Roadpacker chemicals and so needs only shaping and rolling.

                This afternoon I received an email from Bob Sherwin, the RoadPacker distributor, saying “Michael [McDermott]  said that it is not unusual to get a thin layer of mud within the few days after the road is curing, should it rain immediately after a road is done. I wanted to let you know not to be alarmed if that should happen. By the following week, we should be good to go with no worries when it rains.” I really hope the rain holds off (latest forecast is only a 20% probability) because everything Carole and I own is saturated with mud. Rest assured, we will monitor the water resistance of the road surface closely.

In any case, tomorrow will be yet another day with volunteers monitoring the ends of the road. Their job is to ask approaching vehicles to use Avenido de los Compadres as an alternate route until the “all clear” sign is received. For residents on Silver Saddle and to the East, that happy event should occur fairly early in the day.

Regards,

Jim

 

Spur Ranch Road - Request for Volunteers

Dear Neighbor,

We’re in need of a few more volunteers to serve as flag persons on Sunday and possibly Monday. If you can spare a couple of hours, please call Kerry Armour at 983-4055 or email her at kerry_armour@hotmail.com

Many thanks,

Jim

RE: Spur Ranch Road Update - Wed 1_11_12

Just to remind everyone that Jim and his wife Carole are part of this volunteer group as well; standing in the cold and the mud directing traffic. It has been my experience having done it for a couple of days that most people accept the diversion/detour with very good grace, anticipating,  like us, that the resulting finished road will be worth the minor inconvenience of driving around.  I’d recommend that anyone living in the area requiring access via Spur Ranch Road come out and volunteer – you’ll meet your neighbours who are wonderful people.

Al

 

From: Jim Garland [mailto:4cx250b@muohio.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2012 7:16 PM
To: srra1.lamynm@blogger.com
Subject: Spur Ranch Road Update - Wed 1_11_12

 

Dear Neighbors,

A few new developments in our continuing road saga. First, it was very chaotic today managing the traffic flow. The contractors started work an hour earlier than they’d told us, blocking the road with construction equipment at busy hour when our flag persons hadn’t yet shown up.

                Second, coordinating traffic proved much more difficult than we anticipated, because the larger graders, rollers, etc., now in use spanned both lanes much of the time and we had great trouble finding open times for traffic to move.

                And finally, we had an unusual amount of traffic on the road, thanks to a meeting of local realtors who showed up this morning en masse.

                Finally, we decided that it would be in the best interests of everybody simply to close the road during working hours (8am-5pm) and we posted signs at each end of the road, notified the authorities, and posted our volunteers at each end to explain the situation to vehicle drivers. Closing the road is an inconvenience for us all, but is safer and will certainly expedite the roadwork. We’ve driven our alternate route, Avenue de los Compadres, several times today and it is bumpy but perfectly passable, even with ordinary 2WD vehicles.

                On behalf of our saintly volunteers, I’d like to thank you all for being so understanding and accommodating. I’d also like to thank our volunteers for their willingness to stand out in the cold directing traffic on behalf of their neighbors. You all are just super and your efforts are much appreciated.

 

Regards,

Jim

Spur Ranch Road Update - Wed 1_11_12

Dear Neighbors,

A few new developments in our continuing road saga. First, it was very chaotic today managing the traffic flow. The contractors started work an hour earlier than they’d told us, blocking the road with construction equipment at busy hour when our flag persons hadn’t yet shown up.

                Second, coordinating traffic proved much more difficult than we anticipated, because the larger graders, rollers, etc., now in use spanned both lanes much of the time and we had great trouble finding open times for traffic to move.

                And finally, we had an unusual amount of traffic on the road, thanks to a meeting of local realtors who showed up this morning en masse.

                Finally, we decided that it would be in the best interests of everybody simply to close the road during working hours (8am-5pm) and we posted signs at each end of the road, notified the authorities, and posted our volunteers at each end to explain the situation to vehicle drivers. Closing the road is an inconvenience for us all, but is safer and will certainly expedite the roadwork. We’ve driven our alternate route, Avenue de los Compadres, several times today and it is bumpy but perfectly passable, even with ordinary 2WD vehicles.

                On behalf of our saintly volunteers, I’d like to thank you all for being so understanding and accommodating. I’d also like to thank our volunteers for their willingness to stand out in the cold directing traffic on behalf of their neighbors. You all are just super and your efforts are much appreciated.

 

Regards,

Jim

Spur Ranch Road Update and Volunteer Request (Sun 1-8)

Dear Neighbors,

                I want to remind everyone that tomorrow morning reconstruction of our road will begin in earnest and will continue throughout the work week. The first three days (Monday-Wednesday) will be the most inconvenient for us, with one lane open but covered with two inches or so of loose dirt.  

I just drove the back road, Avenue de los Compadres, and it was bumpy but easily passable in our SUV using 2WD. No guarantees, but you’re all welcome to use it if you prefer, though I wouldn’t try it in your Porsche or Mini-Cooper. If we don’t get much snow tonight (just a dusting so far), the contractor will grade the worst part of Compadres to facilitate traffic.

A plea for volunteers: We don’t yet have enough walkie-talkie-bearing flag persons to control traffic at each end of the road construction. As I mentioned, the crucial days are Monday through Wednesday, so if you’ve got a couple of hours to spare please email or call Kerry Armour, who is setting up schedules. Kerry’s email is kerry_armour@hotmail.com, and her phone number is 983-4055.

Thanks!

Jim