— from Timothy P. Blanchard, et. al —
I’ve started the petition “Save Dolphin Bay Road” with other concerned islanders. We need your help to get it off the ground.
Will you take 30 seconds to sign a petition right now? Here’s the link: savedolphinbayroad.org. Please pass it on and ask your family and friends to sign it. Together we can stop this. Here’s why it’s important:
This spring Public Works is planning to pave a large stretch of Dolphin Bay road, one of the last remaining authentic rural roads on Orcas Island. The road meanders over hills through forests, farmland, wetlands and along lakes to the Ferry. The area is sparsely populated as most parcels are large. Hundreds of acres along the road are protected by the San Juan Preservation Trust. Driving this heritage road reminds you of times past, classic island life when the pace was slower. Instinctively you slow down to enjoy the scenery. It’s the reason why so many of us chose to live here.
In September 2015 the Planning Commission unanimously passed the following Finding asking Public Works to preserve Dolphin Bay Road:
“The additional cost of the maintenance of the gravel section of Dolphin Bay Road is well justified by the preservation of a spectacular example of old island character. Let us not pave over the very sort of place that defines us. Dolphin Bay Road should remain in existing condition until a scenic road plan for this road can be completed and traffic volumes can be documented.”
However, as of today, Dolphin Bay road remains on the list for paving in spring 2016, despite opposition from many. Paving this undulating/winding road, which is also a route to the ferry, will lead to higher speeds, undoubtedly necessitating further safety “improvements” such as widening, striping, tree removal, straightening and guard rails. Paving ultimately will destroy the character of this spectacular road. A loss that can never be undone.
According to the Public Works Department, the County’s 1995 Scenic Roads Manual is out of date and is no longer adhered to. If they did adhere to this manual, Dolphin Bay road would not qualify for “gravel road conversion”, the euphemism for chipseal paving. Traffic volumes don’t warrant it, there are no material cost savings (if any), and adjacent owners and others who cherish the rural character of Orcas are opposed.
We are not against all gravel road conversions (some make good sense), but it needs to be decided in a principled and thoughtful manner. Dolphin Day Road is the last public through-road left unpaved on Orcas. It is the last opportunity for visitors and islanders to drive a traditional island road (without having to turn around in a private driveway).
Stop the suburbanization of San Juan County. Please sign this petition and ask the County Council and Rick Hughes to:
1) Respect the finding of the planning commission,
2) Preserve Dolphin Bay road as a gravel road,
3) Direct Public Works to update its policies and adhere to the spirit of the 1995 Scenic Roads Manual to protect our rural character
Pass it on and ask your family and friends to sign this petition. Together we can stop this. Thanks for your help.
You can sign the petition by clicking here.
Thanks!
Amanda Sparks, Andrew Youngren, Ken Katz, Lili Hein and Arthur de Haan, Timothy Blanchard
My father and I tried to insure that a significant portion of dolphin bay road would NEVER BE WIDENED by granting a deeded easement to the preservation trust at a debth of 250 feet on each side of the road to prevent any development improvement and retain the rural nature of that unique gravel lane..The preservation trust ( with all of our help ) will defend that easement in court if necessary.
I sincerely doubt that the county will try to break the trust easement.Fortunately,back when the land prices were able to do so.Dad bought up BOTH SIDES OF THE ROAD so that we could protect its uniqueness.
As a former County Commissioner, in office and in full support of the Scenic Roads Manual when it was adopted in 1995, I am disheartened to hear that Public Works is not following it today. In my opinion the beautiful Dolphin Bay fully qualifies to be treated as a scenic road and its rural character protected —–gravel and all.
Bravo to Tony Ayer and his father for understanding what a delicate thing is the character of an historical road. Dolphin Bay Road has indeed become unique in the islands in preserving the memory of our once rural county. Here on Lopez we fought a similar battle when Watmough Bay Road was scheduled for paving a few years ago. In spite of grass-roots protests referencing the hazards of chipsealing to roadside plants, the hazards of encouraging traffic to go much faster, the hazards of encouraging overuse of the preserved land the road led to, we now have a paved, widened road, welcoming fast-driving visitors. The County gave much more weight to two property owners who objected to dust that arose from summer traffic. Dolphin Bay Road does not have residences close to the road. It does have unique wild plant and moss colonies at roadside. It does have steep hills and turns waiting to surprise less alert speeding visitors. It does NOT need to be paved. I totally support the preservation of this rural landscape feature.
As taxpayers living on Dolphin Bay Road for almost 26 years, we had to chuckle while reading the article by attorney Blanchard and friends. Hopefully the inhabitants of Orcas Island are a little smarter than to sign ANYTHING that quickly! Before you “take 30 seconds to sign a petition right now” as he suggests, Ron and I encourage you to do some very quick and simple research on your own.
And that is before you sign the petition, drive Dolphin Bay Rd. All of it. You will soon see that no matter how beautiful the scenery is, you cannot enjoy it because Dolphin Bay Road is a safety hazard every Winter and most every Summer and one would be quite foolish to be looking at anything other than the road.
Every Winter the potholes become more plentiful and larger. And that is because, unlike what Mr. Blanchard and friends want you to believe, there ARE more folks living (and therefore driving) on Dolphin Bay and the roads that adjoin it. And there is also much more traffic from all the people going to these “large parcels” to their places of employment. The Schulers alone travel this road an average 2-3 times per day.
Each Summer, there have been several close calls with bikers and hikers because the dust is so thick! (yes, we get a thin layer of dust control one time in early Spring which doesn’t last long because of the rain and is often washed into the ditches and flows to wherever it can.)
So, please folks, before you “sign right now”, please take a ride and judge for yourself first. Then let us know how much of the beautiful rural scenery of Dolphin Bay Road you can enjoy safely. Chip sealing Dolphin Bay Road will not get rid of our rural character. Quite the contrary. It will allow us to enjoy it more. And possibly save lives on top of it!
Please, do your homework before you sign anything.
Dr. Ron and Maggie Schuler
From a cyclists perspective, paving Dolphin Bay Road would not make it “the perfect bicycle route to the ferry”, as some have suggested. I hate to break it to you fellow riders, but they’re paving it for the cars, not the bikes.
Paved or not paved, it is not as suitable to the average cyclist (or skinny tire rider) as Crow Valley Road, which has less hills and blind turns than Dolphin Bay, and and much less traffic than Orcas Road. However, for those seeking a challenging, quiet, almost traffic free ride to and from the ferry and Eastsound, there is no better ride now than Dolphin Bay. There’s a reason why they name bicycle shops after it.
Pave it and it’s no better than any of the other routes on Orcas. It will just be another (longer) narrow hilly ride to town, with blind turns – and added traffic. If cyclists can’t handle Dolphin Bay Road in it’s current state, maybe they should just ride on Lopez. Your average touring cyclist wouldn’t ride it anyway, paved or not paved. Your above average touring cyclist would ride it now.
Presumably, this project has been on the County’s Six Year Road Plan for…..
SIX YEARS. How is it that the questions and observations stated above have not surfaced before this late date?
I have driven the Dolphin Bay Rd many times when I drove for Aeronautical Services (UPS), and, frankly, all of the statements above are true. The road is scenic, beautiful, a reminder of the island’s distant past, AND it is dangerous, particularly when large trucks race past.
There would not seem to be any mandatory deadline to complete this
project in 2016. Perhaps, now that the issue has been raised, the County can revisit the proposal, gather new traffic data, conduct several more public meetings, and move forward, OR NOT, in a year or two!!
Paul, I have much respect for you as a fellow rider, bike shop owner, and custom bicycle frame builder. I first became a serious cyclist in 1971; then committed myself to the advancement of bike usage, for reasons of environment, health and recreation. One reason I moved to the San Juan Islands was to ride on the cyclists’ paradise of Lopez Island: plenty of rural, untrafficked paved roads that made connecting loops.
I’m sure you know that in the late 1800s in America, the first significant improvements to the terrible conditions of the unpaved roads of that period, were made for bicycles.
Most road cyclists still prefer pavement. Pave Dolphin Bay Road, and your average touring cyclist WOULD ride it, with pleasure!
And despite what Paul Evans says, I still maintain that Dolphin Bay Road would be the perfect bicycle route to the ferry… if it were paved. Because that’s the only way to get bicyclists to use it! But, probably the same folks who want to see it remain the “quaint” unpaved anachronism that it is, are the ones who complain about bicyclists on Orcas Road! Time to use some common sense, get logical, and stop clinging to the false hope that Orcas can be as it was 60 years ago!
The Scenic Roads Manual is a terrible document. It is stolen from the Vermont Scenic Roads Manual where they actually have an abundance of old roads that carry very little traffic. Grassy shoulders for bicycle riding? What were they thinking?
My partner and I are year-round residents of Harrier Ridge Road. Our home overlooks the stretch of Dolphin Bay Road just South of Quarry Lane just before the pavement ends and becomes gravel. Our orchard and small farm are right next to the road itself, drive by and you’ll see me working there pretty much every day. It’s safe to say that I spend as much or more time on the North end of Dolphin Bay Road as anyone has in the three years since we bought our home. We are making a significant investment of work and energy into our land, and are proud to sell our fruit and produce to our neighbors through the Orcas Food Co-Op.
Saying that, I am 100% in support of this road not being paved, of retaining its rural character, and will definitely go on record to encourage my neighbors to do so the same. There are two primary reasons that I feel very strongly that Dolphin Bay Road should not be paved.
First, with so many of the beautiful parts of this island (beaches, views, winding drives) in private hands and off-limits to locals and visitors alike I feel very strongly that we need to fight to retain as much of the rural, green, underdeveloped but accessible public space as we can. Dolphin Bay Road is a beautiful drive which offers the opportunity to take a step back from the focus to modernize and provide the convenience. I believe very strongly that it is in the best interest of everyone to resist the suburbanization of our public space.
Secondly and importantly, I support leaving Dolphin Bay Road unpaved to slow traffic down. Having spent many hours working directly next to the road at all times of the day and week I can attest to the fact that a significant fleet of vehicles are already using this road as a shortcut or bypass around Orcas Road and drive way too fast on the small part of the road that is paved and beyond. This is not going to get better if we use our tax dollars to speed the road up, ut will get much much worse. Trucks, commercial vehicles, and cars fly past this stretch of road, which granted is in part a law enforcement issue, but I am very concerned that if this road were to be paved it’s just going to become the obvious back way to get to the ferry and very unsafe for those of us who work, travel, and raise families and animals on this road.
We daily see people of all ages, leashed dogs, riders on horseback, and lots of seasonal bicycle traffic enjoying this quiet part of the island by traveling the road. Daily, I’m out there and greet them. This is not anecdotal.
We should be encouraging this diversity of traffic and encouraging people who wish to slow down and enjoy the quiet magic that exists here now, but could so easily be lost irrevocably by streamlining and speeding up the vehicle traffic on Dolphin Bay Road.
With all respect to my neighbors Ron and Maggie (who posted above) and to all our other neighbors who are rightfully concerned with the potholes and state of the disrepair of the road, let me say I am very sympathetic and I am also dealing with the summer dust that fast vehicle traffic generates. Admittedly we don’t get as much dust being 50 yds from where the dirt road starts, but then even the dust that follows traffic up the road has a profound effect on fruit bearing trees. I fully support whatever steps we need to take to press the county to fulfill their responsibility to maintain Dolphin Bay Road so it is safe to travel at a reasonable speed, but I feel very strongly that if we allow the road to be paved it will not make it safer, but much more dangerous to travel for everyone who uses it into the future.
Peter Carlson
Hey Peter!
I think that if you were to follow the many vehicles you say are using Dolphin Bay Road as a back way to the ferry you would find out differently. Going the back way to the ferry from Orcas Road takes LONGER because of the hilly,curving, dangerous road. I have actually done this and found it to be true. So most all of the traffic you see on DBR are the people who live, work and deliver goods. Then there are the tourists to add to that as well. So thanks for helping to prove my point about more people living, working and enjoying DBR than some would want others to believe.
Maggie
According to Google maps, it’s 2.5 miles farther to take Dolphin Bay Road from the ferry dock to town, and it takes exactly twice as long. Obviously, nobody is going to do that as a shortcut, even if it was paved! The Schulers are right.
If you pave it traffic speeds will go up. Proven on countless miles of once “rural” roads. If you want the average speed to go up paving the road is the best way to accomplish that.
There are way too many non-stakeholders involved in the discussion of whether or not to chip seal a portion of Dolphin Bay Road. By non-stakeholders I mean those who do not live off of this section of road. Last fall, the County sent out cards seeking input from those people who either live on the affected part of Dolphin Bay Road or use that portion of Dolphin Bay road as their only access to their property. The response received by the County was 79% in favor of the chip sealing. The people living along the affected stretch of road spoke and their opinions are the ones who should be listened to in this discussion.
With all due respect to others that live in the County (and probably some that don’t) but who have expressed their opinion via the current petition seeking to block the chip seal process, the primary issue here should be the safety of those of us who use this road on a daily basis. We and many others who actually live off this section of Dolphin Bay Road, feel strongly that this poorly maintained road (potholes and slick mud in the wet season, dust and washboards in the dry season) would greatly improve our safety and that of our guests, contractors, and visitors.
The County has many scenic roads. Chip sealing has not detracted from their scenic nature; in fact it enhances the safety and visibility for users. Do any of the critics of chip sealing, regularly drive Dolphin Bay Road after an extended dry period? The adjacent trees and other vegetation are coated in road dust giving it an eerie, unhealthy appearance. Those of us who use the road regularly, also get to breathe that dust on a daily basis.
If one accepts the argument made by some of those opposed to the chip sealing of this portion of Dolphin Bay Road that it will make it unsafe (due to the perception that it will inherently make people drive faster) then the logical extension of that argument would be to rip up all of the pavement and totally convert the County to gravel roads. How would you feel about the pavement you use daily being torn up so as to return the County to the 19th century? Oh think how scenic all that dust, mud and those potholes would be! According to some critics we would be much safer!
One benefit of this discussion is that the County has been made more aware of the dangerous conditions that exist on Dolphin Bay Road. My wife and I have lived full time on Shaner Armstrong Lane for over 10 years. We have seen the accidents that occur and been participants in our own “near misses”. Some of our neighbors have not been as lucky as they or their family members have been involved in accidents on this stretch of the road over the years.
While we do not seek more traffic on Dolphin Bay Road, frankly we would rather risk an increase in tourists and/or cyclists using a properly chip sealed road than continue with the current dangerous situation. It should not require someone to be seriously injured or killed to do the right thing and improve the road safety through chip sealing. We guarantee the road will still be scenic. Note that the County is only planning to chip seal the road as far as Beatrice Lane, not the entire distance to meet the existing pavement at White Beach Road.
For those who think dodging potholes, chattering on the washboard surfaces and breathing in the clouds of summer dust is “part of the ambience of visiting scenic Orcas Island” we invite them to go to a 3rd world country and enjoy their road conditions. We’ve been there and it is not fun.
Don & Maria Webster
We recently purchased a home off Dolphin Bay Rd, on Shaner Armstrong, which is one of the farthest of lanes off Dolphin Bay Rd. At first being a country girl myself growing up in a small rural town in NM. Living off a long dirt road, I was excited back to my roots!! But DBR is not like my dirt road I grew up on, the blind curves,, huge pot holes, little streams that flow down across and down it and poor construction of road, makes this road dangerous! My daughter just got her license and telling her to drive over on other side of road to avoid huge potholes is the dumbest thing ever do as a parent! Come on, whoever wants to keep this road dirt isn’t thinking about our precious children who are driving it and trying to not ruin their parents cars! By the way how many of you parents can really say yes to your child go drive yourself in the dark when it’s pouring rain and visit your friend on DBR? I challenge any of you who does not drive this road, drive it every day for a month before you sign this petition, If you drive to my house I will prepare dessert for you for a whole month! You will only then understand why it is dangerous to leave this road dirt! As for speeding, seems to me there could be stop signs placed at least two of the blind intersections to slow down speeders. I agree it is a beautiful drive, so precautions can be put to slow down drivers. The huge trucks and workers are speeding to get to work,,which by the way ALL work at a certain huge property, and we continually meet them on the road. Give more money for our law enforcement if they are driving it and pulling these jokers over! If we leave it dirt they will never slow down. PLEASE PAVE DBR!!!!
I live directly on the stretch of Dolphin Bay road that is slated to be paved. Our property straddles both sides of the road. Of all the neighbors my family and I spend probably most of the time on and along Dolphin Bay road. Not only driving to town but we also ride our horses with our young sons (4 and 6), and walk along the road.
While the County and some neighbors like to frame it as a local issue, this is a road used and beloved by many in the community as the outpouring of support to preserve the road has made abundantly clear. It truly is a community asset. The community has spoken and our voices should be heard. Despite some process changes after Watmough Head road on Lopez Island, the County still appears to be tone deaf and the changes implemented apparently are only skin-deep and it’s business as usual otherwise, at least at the Roads department.
While the claim is that 79% (11 responses) of the ‘locals’ along the road are in favor of paving, the real number of those opposed is much higher were it not for the county cherry-picking feedback. For instance, renters were excluded, owners with multiple parcels only got one vote, and feedback was excluded because the respondent’s name did not match assessor records.
I support this petition because I am really concerned about what will happen in the future. I will not rehash the arguments in the petition. Paving will not make the road safer. Speed will pick up. Numerous times I have been told that it is the goal of the county to pave every road in the County. It is only a matter of time before the entire road to the ferry is paved. Promises made now will be long forgotten in 5 or 10 years. It’ll be death by a thousand papercuts. Many of the current neighbors will have left by then, but we will still be here, living with the fallout.
At the heart of the issue is that the road has not been maintained properly for many years and not enough money has been put into it. Other than grading it has not had any significant new rock since we’ve owned our property (2001). Neighbors I have talked to are fed up with poor maintenance of the gravel road, but not necessarily in favor of paving. The county crew has been doing their best with limited resources and generally have been responsive. Hence the petition asks the Council to implement the finding of the Planning Commission (ie make proper funds available)
With proper maintenance a gravel road is just as safe as a paved road. The county claims that it will take 18 years to break even and after 40 years savings of $260K are predicted. Even if the crystal ball is accurate, it means savings of only $6,300 per year. On a multi-million dollar budget and with the recently approved 1.0% roads levy increase ($43K annually ), one would think that if there is the WILL there is the money to preserve and properly maintain this unique road. Use some of the $260k chip sealing cost to fix the road bed and drainage issues, but don’t pave it. Isn’t it worth $6k to preserve our rural character and this road beloved by so many? If not, is anything worth preserving?
As stated this week in another online newspaper, Rick Hughes welcomed feedback from the community. Well, we gathered over 430 signatures in just 3 days, and received hundreds of comments. Over 70% is from Orcas residents, who know and use the road. On Tuesday the Council will have the opportunity to show that the County is really listening to the community and not beholden to a vocal minority.
My husband and I have lived for 34 years on Shaner Armstrong Lane which is the driveway directly adjacent to Beatrice Lane, the stopping point for the proposed chip sealing project for Dolphin Bay Road. We are strongly in favor of the county proceeding with this project and oppose the current very sophisticated petition which appeals to the romantic notion of protecting our rural environment. If you had to drive this road daily and had your young children in the car with you, you would support chip sealing also.
The proposed section for chip sealing on Dolphin Bay is a very curvy road with many blind corners, soft shoulders, numerous potholes during the wet season, and seriously impacted by corduroy like road conditions. All too frequently vehicles, attempting to avoid these driving hazards, drive down the center of the road, instead of close to the unstable edge of the road. Before the first two mile portion of Dolphin Bay was chip sealed over 25 years ago, my husband was side swiped by a dump truck driving right down the middle of the road. I was driven off the road to seek safety with 5 children in the car with me to avoid a similar experience. At that time I gathered enough signatures from the residents who lived on this road to convince the county, to at least pave Dolphin Bay to the second quarry road. Since that time, neither my husband nor I have had one potential collision from a vehicle driving on the wrong side of the road. I was grateful and drove with a much greater sense of safety over that portion of the road and another two miles on the gravel unpaved road.
Since that time the number of residents who live along the next mile and a half of Dolphin Bay Road has grown immensely as well as road traffic. In the last five years a number of large construction projects have resulted in an enormous increase in commercial traffic. All of us who drive that unpaved portion of Dolphin Bay have experienced near misses from vehicles driving on the wrong side of the road, or in my husbands’ case, Daniel, who is an extremely safe and slow driver, once again had a truck swipe the side of his vehicle. This portion of the road is extremely dangerous and such accidents or near misses are a regular occurrence. Secondly, driving on a road that is either slipper and muddy or very dusty also increases the likelihood of accidents even is folks are doing their best to remain on the right side of the rode.
Truly Dolphin Bay Road is a scenic drive, but it will remain so even if it is chip sealed. A chip sealed road will provide adequate width with secure edges, a yellow line down the road, and hopefully more attention give to the proper elimination of brush and grass that obscure vision around the many blind corners. Please, please think twice about signing a petition to preserve this dangerous portion of road as a gravel road when you don’t live here and drive this road day in and day out. I also ask our county commissioners not to be snowballed by the very professional and obviously paid for campaign to protect the rural nature of this road. Our entire county is rural, our roads are scenic, and those of us who pay taxes and live on Dolphin Bay also deserve to drive with the same guarantee of safety in place – a yellow line running down a chip sealed road. Daniel and Moriah Armstrong
Two comments in response to comments.
Traffic volume: The PW traffic data reflects nothing like the volume complained of here.
Scenic Roads Manual: This was adopted by Council as a fundamental part of our planning and it is supposed to be governing our roads decisions. If someone wants to change that, go ahead and work on that. For PW to unilaterally decide to ignore it seems wrong to me. The result so far has been interstate-like constructs such as the new Deer Harbor bridge design and the Cascade Creek bridge design.
Peter Carlson, you commented that your home and orchard farm are “50 yards from where the dirt road starts” at the north part of Dolphin Bay Road and that’s why you don’t get as much dust as the Schulers and other neighbors. Is that “50 yards” a typo? Because it appears that the actual distance is 750 yards from the edge of your property to the gravel part of the road. That may be why you don’t get as much dust. But if you say that the dust from a gravel road that is ½ mile from your fruit trees “has a profound effect” on them, that’s a pretty powerful testimonial on the problem of dust on Dophin Bay Road for the people that live nearby!
Peg Manning, the most recent Public Works Map (2007) for Average Daily Traffic https://sanjuanco.com/publicworks/Maps/AADT/2007%20AADT%20Update.pdf, shows 468 vehicles/day at the north end of Dolphin Bay Road down to Beatrice Lane, which is as far south as they are planning to chipseal. Traffic at the south end is only 82 vehicles/day. This indicates that only about 17% of the traffic on the road is through-traffic, since there are almost no residents on the southern portion. The traffic on the northern portion is comparable to Deer Harbor Road between Orcas Road and Westsound, West Beach Road, and Doe Bay Road, all of which have been paved for many decades.
A question for Timothy Blanchard and Peg Manning: How did you gather over 430 signatures in just 3 days?
Dan: This is a grassroots effort. Word of mouth, asking friends, our social network, spreading the word. Volunteer work and 21st century tools, and a road that many are passionate about.
Yes, Christopher, and some of them were from other parts of the WORLD! Amazing isn’t it???
Click on the Save Dolphin Bay Road petition and you will see the petition form they used.(change.org) This form is used to get “numbers” for petitions quickly. Ron and I had one of the signers of the petitioners come up to us tonight and told us he “signed too early”. He got caught up in the moment because of how it was presented. We wonder how many others this happened to?
Arthur, there are NOT many neighbors who “just want the road maintained” any longer. There were some(the Schulers were two of those folks) who would have signed years ago if the road would have been maintained properly and the numbers of folks living on it had not grown to where it is now. It hasn’t been maintained properly and it won’t be. It needs to be chip sealed. It is best for the folks who live here AND it is best for our Public Works Department.
And IF it is true(but I strongly believe it is debatable) that you and your family spend “more” time on Dolphin Bay Road than anyone else and because you and a few others garnered all those signatures from folks who do not use this road hardly at all, does that mean you are more entitled? Do not the folks who live on this road and travel it every day, several times a day, not have a little more say than someone who lives in another COUNTRY and drove on it once when they visited? Sorry, your numbers and types of signatures not only fail to carry much clout, they are even a tad humorous.
And what do you mean when you say “many of the current neighbors will have left by then but we will still be here living with the fallout”? The fallout of DBR being chipsealed?
I don’t know of any neighbors going anywhere but even if they
do surely others will live in the houses and want THEIR families to be safe too!
You say that a gravel road is as safe as a chip-sealed road. Surely you jest! It is a scientific fact that a vehicle can stop much faster and in a shorter distance on a chip sealed or blacktop road than gravel. For goodness sakes, that is Driving 101 that most of us learned when we were sixteen and received our drivers license!
Let’s keep the facts straight, OK?
Maggie
Obviously the road dust and lack of maintenance are very valid concerns…chip seal without widening the road might be one answer worth consideration by the county road dept.On selected dangerous corners ,widening the corner may also be a solution but SPEED IS ALSO A VERYserious concern.From Shaner / Armstrong lane south past diamond lake to kilibreau lake is another matter and should just be properly maintained.
I live on DB Road. I can understand the people who oppose the chip and seal for Dolphin Bay Road with the threat of higher speeds but how many of them are driving along it at the moment where the numerous potholes, at some locations, force one to drive on the wrong side of the road around semi-blind corners. Very dangerous.
Therefore I heartily support the chip and seal proposal and hope the majority of the people who use the road on a regular basis prevail. Long live the democratic process
Geoff Lemon
As a resident who lives off Dolphin Bay which will be chipsealed scheduled for this spring, I am upset with the response challenging this decision to improve the safety of using this road. I built my house in 1980 and used DBR daily for almost 33 years going to work of Opalco. In the early days, I might pass 3 to 5 cars a week. However, within 10 plus years, that changed to about 5 cars daily. Traffic has increased 5 fold since the early 90’s with a large increase in large truck and equipment. I travelled DBR in all kinds of weather and at all times of the day and night and there has always been a need to vigilant at maintaining proper speed and staying on ones side of the road. Many people have travelled DBR as if it they were the only ones around and are obvious to bling curves and still travelling too fast. I have personal experience with dangers involved with this stretch of road as my daughter and son were run into by someone cutting the corner at DBR and Iotte Landing. The other driver travelling too fast and avoiding potholes and not staying on her side of the road slammed into my daughter and son, totaling the car and injuring my two children.
I hope that the commissioners will place the safety of driving this road voiced by the majority of the full time residents who live along DBR and not by influenced by the people who have little or no experience of what this means to the safety to ones who have and do use this road daily. This is not a popularity contest to sign a petition to show your support for this beautiful island but a safety issue for the people who use this road daily.
todd w shaner
I am a homeowner on Raintree Lane (connects to DB Road). I want to add my support to the proposal to proceed with chip sealing DBR. A paved road surface with resulting safety and dust suppression benefits is a wonderful step forward. There may well be disagreement as to benefits and consequences, but I echo the stated desire that the voices and opinions of those that travel the road as property owners and residents are most prominently considered.
The solution to the problem of speeding is to install radar speed signs. The permanent one coming into Eastsound is very effective. Tests repeatedly show that speeders will slow down up to 80% of the time when alerted by a radar sign. Typical speed reductions are 10-20%. Overall compliance with the posted speed limit will go up by 30-60%. Radar speed signs are particularly effective at getting “super speeders”—speeders driving 20 mph or more over the posted speed limit—to slow down.
Wonderful example of an ongoing, nuanced, and respectful discussion among neighbors…
Over the past 30 years I’ve seen occasional instances when new arrivals, awakened to all the charm of the island, seem in retrospect to have been just a tad overzealous in taking on the mantel of island-character-arbiter…
I lived on DBR for a period in the ’90s and remember the feeling of relief when reaching the chip-sealed northern portion. And annoyance at the car-coating wet dust tac.
Maggie Schuler is right; the words of those who live on DBR should weigh the heaviest, and they say PAVE! NOW!
I have heard Tim Blanchard on many topics. I admire him greatly for his factual, carefully researched and civilly presented views. This respect led me to sign the petition without much thought. I am as much a sucker as any one else for nostalgic imaginings of horse and buggies filled with smiling passengers rolling down a sun-dappled DBR. But I will now withdraw my support.
Thanks for coming forward, Wally!
You will be interested to know that the highly respected Forbes magazine did an in-depth article of Change.org where the petition came from. Pretty interesting read when you look at the psychology of how it all works. Forbes sums up the article with this-
“But the site’s greater impact may be the thousands of lesser-known petitions–15,000 are created monthly–started by everyday Joes who blast their call for signatures through their e-mail directories and social networks. Responding to one of these petitions is the ultimate in armchair slacktivism. Check a box because a friend of a friend tells you to, and you have done something good for the day.” Change.org now has 20 million members and is adding 2 million a month.
“But the site’s greater impact may be the thousands of lesser-known petitions–15,000 are created monthly–started by everyday Joes who blast their call for signatures through their e-mail directories and social networks. Responding to one of these petitions is the ultimate in armchair slacktivism. Check a box because a friend of a friend tells you to, and you have done something good for the day.” Change.org now has 20 million members and is adding 2 million a month.
My husband and I have a small cabin on Shaner Armstrong Lane off of Dolphin Bay Road. We come up to the Island quite often and in all seasons. Because we have family in Eastsound we travel the north portion of DBR from Shaner Armstrong Lane almost every day we are here. The road is in disrepair most of the time and as has been stated, very dusty in the summer. Because our cabin is a get-a-way, we “toodle” along DBR as we aren’t in any hurry. However, it is often quite scary when passing a lumbering truck going the other way or quite annoying when eating the dust of the car in front of you. As folks who use DBR fairly often we believe that the road should be chip sealed.
All
I originally posted the item below under the thread “letter to the Editor, Thanks for the Apology”. It is pertinent to the subject matter discussed in this thread and may remove some misconceptions.
It is my understanding that the planned chip sealing of a portion of Dolphin Bay Road will not involve any “straightening out of the horizontal or vertical curves of the road” nor any changes in the alignment.
If you go to the County Council Agenda for February 2, the Public Works Report on chip sealing this portion of Dolphin Bay Road is included. I extract from that report:
“Scenic “character
a. A full review of the San Juan County “Scenic Roads Manual” revealed that gravel road conversions are in accordance with the guidance within. No alignment changes or structure removal or landscape impediment result. The only resultant change is the harder surfacing a Chip Seal Rd (gravel combined with 4-5% asphalt oil) provides and a darker shade of gray.
b. Striping. This section of Dolphin Bay Rd will not receive either centerline or fogline striping and will retain the “rural” feel “
Note also that the report includes a photo of the recently chip sealed Pinneo Road as an example of what the finished product looks like. Beautiful and much SAFER! Take a look!
If anyone thinks that the Dolphin Bay Road chip seal project includes road alignment or width changes they are mistaken. Those of us who live here and drive the road daily (as well as any visitors) will have the same rolling, twisting scenic road but with a surface that is superior to any dirt/gravel road. More importantly it will be superior 365 days a year. Even with the best intentions on the part of the County (and way more money than is currently spent on the road) the existing road surface will never be as safe or virtually dust free as a chip seal surface will provide.
In the interests of safety, we need to get this chip sealing done!
I say chipsealing in and of itself does not a scenic road destroy.
It could also be argued that chipsealing enhances the scenic quality of a rural road by eliminating dust accumulation on adjacent flora, bone-rattling washboard road surfaces, enhancing air quality, and heaven forbid, by attracting a greater number of bikers and motorists keen on experiencing the wonders of s curvy scenic road with its many mysteries just around the bend.
Fred, you may be right if it was done in a planful way, which it is not today. Hence the Finding of the Planning Commission. The long term consequences have not been thought through. Many safety issues and personal stories of (near) accidents have been raised in this thread, but chip sealing the road as is will not address those issues, and will create a host of new ones. The focus is on 1.75 miles, without regard of the impact on the remainder of the road to the ferry. It needs to be thought through end to end.
From the US Department of Transportation:
Paving a road tempts drivers to drive faster. As speed increases, the road must be straighter, wider, and as free as possible from obstructions for it to be safe. Paving low volume roads before correcting safety and design inadequacies encourages speeds which are unsafe, especially when the inadequacies “surprise” the driver.
So one step will lead to more, and without a plan to address these upfront you die a death by a 1000 papercuts, forced to mitigate hazards step by step, and the road will be ruined as a result… After thoughtful planning you can decide to chip seal, but in hindsight you can’t undo the paving.
Public Works did additional research, that Mr Webster refers to above. It lacks detail and data (other than cost). As a reminder, here is the section on Gravel Road conversion in the Scenic Roads Manual (https://sanjuanco.com/publicworks/scenicrdmanual.aspx):
“Over 204 miles of the County’s 270 miles of roads have been paved. Typically a road with a vehicular volume of 300 to 400 vehicles per day should be considered for paving. At these volumes it becomes difficult and expensive to adequately maintain a gravel road. Once a road is paved, it will probably never be returned to gravel surface. Since the possible consequences of this operation can have a major impact on the rural quality of a road, the decision to pave or not to pave should be based on a careful evaluation of all influencing factors. The evaluation should consider the following points:
1. Does the volume and composition of traffic justify paving?
2. Will the initially high costs of construction be balanced by long-term savings on the cost of maintenance?
3. Will paving only those stretches of roadway which are difficult be adequate?
4. Are abutting property owners supportive?
5. Is there a need to make geometric or cross-section changes?
”
The authors claim that chip sealing is in accordance with the Scenic Roads Manual. Looking at the above questions I think it is not for the following reasons. Maybe Public Works can elaborate on the data that support the claim. Here is my take on the questions:
1) No – traffic volume is closer to 100 than 150 I have heard. Can PW give the actual number used for the memo? When and where were they measured? For how long? Or is it an estimate? I’ve seen numbers of 468 on the north end and 87 on the south end of DB road floated. Even with quarry traffic included (the quarry is on the paved section of DB road) It seems unlikely that 20-30 residences yield 20 trips per day each on average, day after day.
2) There appear to be some expected savings but these are long term (18 years out) and a rounding error in Public Works’ annual budget. Furthermore, the cost of further needed safety changes are not taken into account. Undoubtedly these will be needed to address safety issues as a direct result from chip sealing.
3) Not addressed
4) I think the question should be ‘community’ in this case since it is a through road. The supporters of chip sealing don’t abut Dolphin Bay road but live on properties feeding into DB Road.
5) The road is too narrow for paving and has sharp corners and line of sight. To make the road safe these need to be addressed. Paving will address potholes but not deer, bikers and pedestrians (other causes for straying into the oncoming lane.
Furthermore, the report claims that speed will not increase. Maybe Public Works can elaborate why the speed claim is different by findings by the Federal Department of Transportation on Gravel road maintenance. I quote from the section on “When to pave a gravel road”:
“After Considering Safety and Design
Paving a road tempts drivers to drive faster. As speed increases, the road must be straighter, wider, and as free as possible from obstructions for it to be safe. Paving low volume roads before correcting safety and design inadequacies encourages speeds which are unsafe, especially when the inadequacies “surprise” the driver. Because of the vast mileage of low volume roads, it is difficult to reduce speeds by enforcement. Roads must be designed to provide safe travel for the expected volume at the design speed. To do this a number of physical features must be considered:
• Sight Distance
• Design Speed
• Alignment and Curves
• Surface Friction
• Lane Width
• Superelevation
It may be necessary to remove trees or other obstructions such as boulders from the road’s edge. Some engineers insist that no road should be paved that is less than 22 feet wide. If this standard is accepted, gravel roads must be widened before paving. Bridges may need widening. Considering these and other safety and design factors in the early stages of decision making can help to achieve the most economical road and one that will meet transportation needs. It makes no sense to pave a gravel road which is poorly designed and hazardous.”
Source: https://www2.ku.edu/~kutc/pdffiles/FHWAGravelRoadsGuide2015.pdf
Clearly this has become an emotional issue for many in the community. It would help further the discussion for everyone involved if Public Works could provide more data and insights underpinning their conclusions in the memo. I hope the Council Members will consider the answers too as they discuss Dolphin Bay Road.
Arthur…I can find no fault with your analysis, and thank you for citing the five questions from the Scenic Roads Manual. As a sporadic user of DBR, I can’t help but wonder what the costs would be to maintain the road properly…?…allowing the “wash boards” to develop is surely not satisfactory road maintenance. Certainly the safety improvements you note would transform and degrade the existing scenic qualities.
I’m no fan of spending SJC funds for a project which would alter the alignment or widen the road.
Whatever is finally done, perhaps we’ll need some powerful signage…something akin to, “Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here”
Note that the County has stated that it hasn’t maintained the road for two years because it anticipated chipsealing. That doesn’t seem like a good approach.
Fred Klein–I think you highlight the heart of the problem. Chipsealing is one thing, but widening, realigning and more signage are another. My principal concern is that there has been little thought given to the project and, much in the way of Mount Baker Road and the Cascade Creek Bridge, we will soon find ourselves in the middle of a much more significant change than described.