ODOT seeks input on temporary closure of Hwy. 47
The Oregon Department of
Transportation will hold a pub
lic meeting, August 7 at 7:00
p.m., at the Mist-Birkenfeld Fire
Station, 12525 Hwy 202, to dis
cuss work to install a new cul
vert on Oregon 47 at Messing
Creek during the week of Au
gust 20.
Alternate route info
Public input at the meeting
will be used to determine exact
dates of the expected three-
day closure of the highway, at a
location just north of the
Hwy47/Hwy 202 junction. Alter
nate routes and detour infor
mation will also be discussed.
ODOT maintenance crews
will replace the existing five-
feet diameter culvert with one
that is six feet high and nine
feet wide. Highway 47 floods
each year at Messing Creek
because the old culvert is too
small to deal with typical winter
rainfall.
‘The old culvert can’t deal
with the amount of rain this
area receives during a normal
winter,” said Ron Kroop, Dis
trict 2A Maintenance Manager.
‘This new culvert has the ca
pacity to deal with virtually all
storm events that we typically
see over a 50-year period."
Emergency response
arrangements made
The Mist-Birkenfeld and
Clatskanie Fire Districts have
worked out an arrangement
that will not restrict emergency
services during the highway
closure. The Mist-Birkenfeld
INSIDE:
Fire Department will respond to
emergencies south of the clo
sure while the Clatskanie Fire
Department will answer calls
on the north end.
Hood to Coast not
affected by closure
The work will be completed
before the opening of elk hunt
ing season August 25. That
portion of Hwy. 47 is not on the
route of the Hood-to-Coast Re
lay, which is scheduled August
24 through 26.
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Banks........pg. 4
Pickles and
Relish and
more..........pg. 7
These aren’t
your mother’s
cheerleaders
•............. p g -9
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•1
Voice of the Upper Nehalem River Valley’
Vol. 16, No 15
Almost finished...
Engineers explain
schools’ problems
Following a long-range facilities
study, the Vernonia School District
Board of Directors has recom
mended total replacement of exist
ing school buildings. Because this
is a very large undertaking, The
INDEPENDENT is presenting a
series of articles on elements of
the study specific recommenda
tions and reasons for the recom
mendations, in an effort to help
district residents understand the
proposal.
Since this photo was taken, about 10 days ago, of the new shower/restroom building
in Anderson Park, paving and landscaping have been added, most of the RV sites have
also been paved and a great new children’s play structure has been erected.
Dedication of the new facilities will be on Friday, August 3 ^ t jk 3 0 ^ m ^
3M will bring new models to Vernonia
bia County Commissioner Tony
General Motors Corp, and a ride and drive through down
Hyde and Bill Woolsey, chair
Chevrolet Motor Division will town, suburban and rural Port
man of the upcoming Vernonia
• hosting 40-45 automotive land and Columbia County, a
Jamboree
Logging Show, who
jrnalists from the Western lunch stop in Vernonia, con
will present a twenty-minute
S. July 31-August 2 in the cluding with an afternoon ride
logging demonstration in the
eater Portland area to intro- and drive back to the River-
park both days. Woolsey and
Place Hotel in Portland.
ice two new truck models -
The lunch stop on Wednes Hyde will demonstrate axe
e Avalanche Ultimate Utility
throwing, different types of cuts
jhicle and the TrailBlazer day and Thursday, August 1
and furniture making, as well
JV. Two waves of media will and 2, will be at The Scout
as demonstrating a brand new,
>me to the Portland area for Cabin in Vernonia. Lunch will
state-of-the-art power saw that
e three-day event. The pro- be catered by Simply Delicious
can cut a 30-inch log in 1.5
am will be split into two Catering, of Vernonia. Lunch
seconds. The motor for the
aves, each beginning in the time entertainment for the me
saw is built by General Motors.
/ening and concluding the fol- dia will be provided by Colum
wing afternoon. Each wave
atures an evening reception
r the journalists, along with
•esentations by GM engi-
Vernonia Lake Park and the Linear Trail Extension from Ver
aers, followed by dinner the
nonia Lake to Anderson Park will be closed to the public from Au
ay of arrival.
Day Two of the program fea- gust 6 to 8 in order to seal coat the pedestrian/bicycle pathways
ires breakfast, marketing p l in these areas.
The seal coat process requires surface preparation before ap
antations by GM Brand Team
plication
of the asphalt-like seal coat, and time for it to cure.
lembers and members of the
The areas will be open for public use on August 9.
ehicle Line Executive teams,
Linear trail extension and Vernonia
Lake will be closed for seal coat
August 1, 2001
As part of the long-range fa
cilities planning process, the
Vernonia School District Board
of Directors contracted with
Walker/Diloreto/Younie, Inc.
(WDY), consulting engineers,
to conduct an assessment of
the existing school buildings’
ability to withstand an earth
quake. This report is included
in the Long Range Facilities
Planning Report available for
review in the district office. It is
important to note that the
scope of the report is based on
a cursory walk-through of
Washington Grade School and
Vernonia High School, study of
building plans and the compa
ny’s experience with similar
buildings constructed during
similar periods.
Construction now
very different
Construction methods from
the early part of the last centu
ry concentrated on ensuring
that buildings would stand up
and remain standing with a lot
of snow on top of them. This
type of construction considers
only what is known as vertical
load, i.e. the weight of the
building itself and anything that
might collect on top of it such
as snow or rain. Vertical load is
not the only load a building is
exposed to, however.
The force of wind and, more
devastatingly, earthquakes,
produce side-to-side and up-
and-down motion, or stresses
known as horizontal load.
Since the 1960’s, engineers
have been studying the effects
of horizontal load and how var
ious elements of construction
enable buildings to survive hor
izontal
loads,
particularly
earthquakes.
Ground movement
a consideration
Every time a major earth
quake or windstorm occurs,
engineers gather from all over
the world to survey the dam
age. Weight and motion from a
building must be transferred to
the ground and engineers have
determined that an intercon
nected system of bracing that
connects vertical and horizon
tal surfaces is necessary for
buildings to survive earth
quakes. Unbraced connections
between walls (vertical) and
ceilings (horizontal) become
hinges - similar to those on a
door, gate or piano - and in the
event of an earthquake allow
the two surfaces to come to
gether. As Dave Söderström,
the district’s contract architect,
explains it, “ If the ground
moves and the building does
not, the building falls down."
The study conducted by
WDY revealed the extent of the
problems with both the grade
and high school buildings.
Constructed in 1930 and 1950
respectively, neither building
benefited from any considera
tion of horizontal load. It simply
was not part of standard build
ing practice or building code of
the time. Since 1967 local de
sign codes have required that
buildings be able to withstand
a reasonable amount of wind
pressure and earthquake mo
tion for the area in which they
are constructed. While code
requirements for wind pressure
Please see page 5