Road Grump Continues

November 26, 2011

Dear Editor:

After my letter to the editor appeared in last week’s paper [“Road Grump,” The Mountain Enterprise, Nov. 25, 2011] I have received numerous phone calls from people agreeing with my opinion of the shoddy workmanship done on the paving of our road. Others have brought up some safety concerns about the new road. I will share them with you.

When our snows arrive, consider this: all the ruts in the road will become iced over by snow melting during the day, and water collecting in these ruts that will freeze over in the evenings to cause icy patches all over the roads—leading to even more hazardous driving conditions.One of the worst areas is the first bridge coming into Frazier Park from Lake of the Woods, which has always been dangerous during the winter months. [We’ve published many photos of upside down cars that have slid or flipped in this area—Editor].

This long slow grade has always been a problem entering or leaving Frazier Park, now it has been accentuated by what will become even more dangerous ice-covered spots.

At the blinking 4-way stop light on Monterey and Frazier Mountain Park Road, if you think it has been a problem stopping before, wait till these ruts fill with ice, it will become a skating rink!

Something needs to be done about this situation before winter really sets in.

The folks up in Pine Mountain had almost the same problem a while back and got it taken care of by citizens picking up the phone and airing complaints to the proper county offices. They now have a beautiful first rate road done in the way it should have been done in the first place.

We can do the same. I urge you all to call and voice your dissatisfaction about our tax dollars being wasted on second rate work done by county work crews.

Al Fleming
Lake of the Woods

On Nov. 28, Fleming wrote again, with this update:

I just spoke with two different people at the roads department. One of them was Steve McCullah. They were both very polite and blamed the condition on bad oil. They seemed to not want to do anything about it, Steve did tell me that he would check into it and get back to me. I have the feeling after talking with them that they are trying to pass the buck and don’t want to be bothered with it.

As you can see the condition of the road is deteriorating more each day and by the time we get some snow it will become even more dangerous.

We wrote back to Fleming with this question: “bad oil”? Do you mean their hypothesis is that substandard materials were used in the road surfacing? Fleming replied:

They claim that the oil they used was bad! I think it makes no difference. The road needs to be redone the right way, otherwise I predict we will see a lot more accidents this winter.

If it were bad oil, it’s not our fault, so we should not have to put up with a road that is substandard and worst than it was before they started. Someone needs to take responsibility for this screw up and fix it.

Guess I have gotten a lot of folks stirred up.

Al Fleming
Lake of the Woods

In a related complaint, we heard from a retired LAPD officer:

November 30, 2011

Dear Editor:

I can tell you that at least a dozen people I know have had their windshields broken. One lady had her insurance pay for it, and on her way back from getting it repaired was stuck by rocks again. My daughter was at the intersection of Frazier Mountain Park Road and Piñon Pines, waiting to pull out, when a car driving by threw up rocks that broke her windshield.

I have taken photos of the gravel removed by the sweeper and would estimate it at 10 to 15 tons. The road is still covered in loose gravel. Both my vehicles have broken windshields, as do both my daughter’s.

We have all turned in claims to the county. Tom Newell, the claims adjustor, rejected all claims. When I asked how he justified that decision, he said, “I don’t think you have a claim.” He was arrogant. I would estimate the county has gotten at least 50 claims, maybe more. I am going to request that information.

People are very angry about this. It is my opinion the county roads department left this road in an unsafe condition. When you drive this road you still hear and feel the loose gravel hitting your vehicle.

Mike Jensen
Piñon Pines

This is part of the December 02, 2011 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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