Ozone Climber discusson

[billcoe]

Well, it was bound to get put on the internet:-) The tags you see on the SR14 road in this area are for a road project. The last date to comment is rapidly approaching. It may have already passed and the last meeting to perhaps to pat themselves on the back, I don't know.

 

"Public Meeting

 

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Project Open House

SR 14 Camas-Washougal Widening

4:00 - 7:00 p.m.

Camas Police Department, Community Room

Camas, WA"

Given that they are looking to spend $10 mil to make the road safer, do you not think it would be a good thing to let the design engineers know of the parking needed at Ozone. If the last public hearing passes without anyone saying a thing, and some climber gets plowed by a Log Truck pulling into the road right there, maybe just before the project starts or especially after they have "fixed it to make it safe" it could have huge long term negative impact on the Zone and those many who seem to be going there these days.

 

I am wondering what all of your thoughts are on this issue. I would think that getting involved with this now would be important. I found this info and though I'd better share. Mind you, I'm not going or planning on doing this (organizing) myself, but want to give you all a heads up and the chance to do so if you are of a mind to do so.

 

Thoughts?

 

1st) Road info here: Link to WDOT site

 

Says: " These two SR 14 safety improvement projects have been combined into a single overall project for design, right of way acquisition and possibly construction. This combination project will help improve safety and mobility on State Route 14 between Marble Road and Salmon Falls Road in western Skamania County by straightening several curves, improving a passing shoulder for slow-moving trucks and adding turn lanes at the Salmon Falls Road and Belle Center Road intersections.

 

Why is WSDOT constructing this project?

SR 14 is a popular route for sightseeing and for accessing various historical and recreation sites inside the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. It is also utilized by many commercial trucks on their way to and from ports and cities along the Columbia River and the Washington-Oregon state line.

 

Approximately 4,700 vehicles drive this section of SR 14 each day. Between 2001 and 2004, there were 113 reported collisions between Marble Road and Salmon Falls Road. In May 2004, the Washington Traffic Safety Commission and Steering Committee, in conjunction with WSDOT, designated a portion of SR 14 in Skamania County between the Clark County line and North Bonneville a Traffic Safety Corridor

 

The End Result

This project will shift the highway to the north in order to straighten out several curves including those located:

 

* just west of Marble Road (milepost 22.68-23);

* at Belle Center Road (milepost 23.02-23.34);

* between Belle Center Road and the Half Bridge near Cape Horn (milepost 23.34-23.6); and

* just west of Salmon Falls Road (milepost 25.85-26.11).

 

In addition, this project will improve the eastbound shoulder used by slow-moving trucks between Marble Road and Belle Center Road, and will add an eastbound left turn lane and a westbound right turn lane at the Salmon Falls Road and Belle Center Road intersections. Other improvements, recommended by the Value Engineering Study, may also be implemented.

 

Project Benefits

 

* Safety: This project will help reduce accidents along this section of SR 14 by straightening several curves and by adding turn lanes to the Salmon Falls Road intersection.

* Mobility: This project will allow vehicles to pass slow-moving trucks more easily on the eastbound hill between Marble Road and Belle Center Road by improving the right passing shoulder to allow large trucks to pull out of traffic without stopping.

 

What is the project timeline?

Initial design work on this project has begun. Right of way acquisition is scheduled to begin in Spring 2008, lasting through Fall 2009. Construction is expected to begin in 2010."

Edited March 20, 2008 by billcoe

[JosephH]

This project will shift the highway to the north in order to straighten out several curves...

 

This would appear to be the key construction initiative which, on the surface of it, should allow more room for parking if you can work it out with WSDOT. Did anyone figure out if NFS is the actual land owner of record?

 

[pink]

more parking at ozone=more parking at beacon

[ivan]

more parking at ozone=more parking at beacon

though regretably not for most of the first half of the year...

[kevbone]

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Project Open House

 

 

Who's going?

[JosephH]

more parking at ozone=more parking at beacon

though regretably not for most of the first half of the year...

 

Last two years after Beacon opened I was driving past stacks of cars at Ozone only to arrive at an empty parking lot at Beacon. Works for me...

[pink_chalk]

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Project Open House

 

 

Who's going?

 

I'm a "maybe".....

[ivan]

more parking at ozone=more parking at beacon

though regretably not for most of the first half of the year...

 

Last two years after Beacon opened I was driving past stacks of cars at Ozone only to arrive at an empty parking lot at Beacon. Works for me...

of course i've noted the same phenomena - i meant that all the people in the world could climb at o-god-zone on a beautiful day in march and a parking lot at beacon would still be pointless as i couldnt' (legally) climb there

 

sour grapes, most likely b/c my face is so burned today i look like a goddam zombie (and i'd rather have climbed at beacon y-day than hood...)

 

can we just convince the falcons to relocate to ozone? there's something i could be fine w/ not having for a half year

[JosephH]

I wish. And trust me - no one, and I mean no one, wants it open more than I do...

[denalidave]

Anyone up for some evening zone action this week?

[pink_chalk]

sour grapes, most likely b/c my face is so burned today i look like a goddam zombie (and i'd rather have climbed at beacon y-day than hood...)

 

I bet my face is more red than yours! Forgot the sun block. *zoinks* People keep staring at me asking, what did you to do your face?!

We skinned up Hood yesterday too. Beautiful sunshine weather sickie

[ivan]

 

I bet my face is more red than yours! Forgot the sun block. *zoinks*

i doubt it - i got the whole 2nd degree oozing blisters thing too - what really pisses me off is that i actually had sunblock, i just didn't think about putting it on until far, far too late - i can't ever remember getting burned in the winter!

[JosephH]

What? You couldn't find any poison oak up there?

[pink_chalk]

 

I bet my face is more red than yours! Forgot the sun block. *zoinks*

i doubt it - i got the whole 2nd degree oozing blisters thing too - what really pisses me off is that i actually had sunblock, i just didn't think about putting it on until far, far too late - i can't ever remember getting burned in the winter!

 

Oh no! oozing blisters... I had that the first time I summited Hood. I looked like a total FREAK SHOW! ha ha.... I remember a co-worker asking me if I had fallen on my face.

 

Rx for healing:

 

Alovera plant and lots of sex.

[pink_chalk]

Sorry Bill.... we're getting off track here.

[ivan]

Alovera plant and lots of sex.

if only the conservatives would get over the whole genetic engineering thing i could have sex w/ an aloe vera woman in the finest of kirk-ian fashions

[kevbone]

Now...back to the important topic. Who is going?

[JosephH]

You should really push the fact this is a pre-Scenic Area recreational resource which, after much hard work, was rescued from the status of an over-the-roadside garbage dump and now serves both PDX and Southern Washington area climbers. That this significant cleanup and trailbuilding effort required no county, state, or federal dollars and the work was funded and performed entirely by local climbers.

 

It would also be wise to say you recognize and acknowledge the parking situation is sub-optimal as it now stands and that 'the community' has been working to insure parking habits are as safe as possible given the available pullout footage. If there are any further necessary cleanup detailing or trail work to be done to make the place presentable then it might also be wise to jump on that as well, before various agency personnel start pulling inspection tours on the place. Ditto on collating any draft guide or other material you can produce on the effort which would show climber investment in this recreational resource.

 

And any coherent presentation you could make as a group which would deliniate the past and recent history, illustrate the physical layout (trails, cliff, etc. relative to the road), detail the number of climbs and usage stats, and overall demonstrate climber-initiated investment would go a long way towards things working for, rather than against, climbers. It might also be worth noting Ozone serves as one of the few viable SW Washington climbing alternatives during the period of Beacon's Peregrine management closure. In general, an organized presentation will be far, far more effective than a rag-tag band of climbers speaking individually. In fact, it might be quite wise to try and secure 15-20 minutes on the agenda to present if at all possible.

[kevbone]

There is not much room to make the road any straighter over the zone. At least not going south. Maybe if they widen the road using the property to the north. I wonder if they would put some sort of structure over the rock face?

[ivan]

that wouldn't make sense, kev - extending the road over the cliff would make it MORE curvy, which they're trying to reduce. if they mess w/ the road there at all it would likely be to shove it further inland, which would make me sad if it took out the totally eccentric "the columbia gorge has gone to the dogs" sign (a tad ironic as well) - this might increase the walk to the crag by 30 seconds though and certainly climbing at the zone might be off-limits during the likely lenghty amount of time they spend actually doing the work on the road

[cranestyle]

I'm in the transportation planning business and I would recommend sending comments via the project website (http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/SR14/MarbleRd/feedback.htm) with specific details about recreational uses of Ozone. Also, the WSDOT will need to know the exact location of the parking area. The parking area for Ozone is likely located in the right-of-way for SR14, so WSDOT should know that cars will be parked in this area. The worst case would be that WSDOT would turn the parking area into a new storm water treatment facility (open ditch) which may cut back on the parking area. Also, if Ozone is indeed located on NPS land it may be considered a 4(f) property, which is "any publicly owned land from a significant public park, recreation area, or wildlife and waterfowl refuge, or any land from a significant historic site." I think under 4(f) WSDOT couldn't limit access to a recreation area, but this may be a weak argument since the parking is on WSDOT right-of-way and Ozone is not an "official" recreation area.

 

But anyways, send comments to WSDOT if you can't make it to the public hearing. Remember, try to be as detailed as possible in your comments; project scoping is not a democratic process, but a method for WSDOT to hear issues from the public that weren't raised during the inital project development.

[JosephH]

But anyways, send comments to WSDOT if you can't make it to the public hearing. Remember, try to be as detailed as possible in your comments; project scoping is not a democratic process, but a method for WSDOT to hear issues from the public that weren't raised during the inital project development.

 

Some one might consider putting together an Ozone overview website where you could pull info together for WSDOT and just link to it in a feedback post. Also, MS Virtual Earth appears to have better satellite coverage of Ozone than Google Earth and you may want to consider doing a custom layer in it showing the extent of the place and the two pullouts. Probably would be good to get gps coordinates and exact, fractional mile post distances on the pullouts at each end of it as well.

 

But I would still recommend attempting to get on the agenda and doing a [short] presentation along the lines I listed above. Oh, and be clear - if they are straightening the road through there by moving it north tell them you'd like a parking area with east and westbound access.

[kevbone]

 

Some one might consider putting together an Ozone overview website where you could pull info together for WSDOT and just link to it in a feedback post.

 

Great idea....you are hired.

[JosephH]

Someone collates the content I can stick it up on a site. Mark also has one he could probably clone pretty fast with a cut-and-paste job to produce one as well. Again, though, for me to do it I'd need all the content folks had in text or Word docs, jpegs or scannable images, and someone would have to go get the gps coordinates (I can get the fractional mile post markers the next trip up to monitor the Peregrines) - and I'd need it all by the 25th of this month. If you folks can do that I'll put it up, or as I said, it sounds like Mark has a similar capability.

 

P.S. You'll have to sort out who's or what name you are presenting under and want on the website. It can be an informal organization or a group of individuals, but you'll need contact info for WSDOT and other agencies so you folks had better sort that out as well as they are likely going to ask whom they should be talking with. Maybe draft Bryan now that he lives here...

[markd]

i can help however i'm needed, and would like to be part of the process.

 

let me know.