Post by pistonschick on Jun 29, 2012 20:22:40 GMT -8
I pirated this post from the JCTRA website - an amazing group of people doing great things in the forest. Thanks to Doug Glidden and Jake Turpenin for giving them a hand tomorrow. I am pretty impressed at all of the thought process they put into thwarting vandals and keeping visitors safe at the Trailhead...
Crystal
* * * * *
In response to the many near misses and a few fortunately non-fatal accidents resulting from people driving too fast through the Jones Creek staging area, the DNR has opted to provided funding to build and install two heavy duty speed limit signs...one on each side of the Jones Creek staging area!
As the DNR provided the funding from one of the many grants that keep the Jones Creek OHV system alive, JCTRA has agreed to provide the labor to build and install the signs.
This morning Jack Compton, Bruce Wells, Ross Sicilia, Andy Drexler, and Shawn Mattson showed up at my house to help build the heavy duty signs.
We started with 6.5" steel tubing 10 feet long. I used a torch to notch the tubes to install the 12" x 18" X 3/4" plates which will be the surface of the speed limit signs. and welded the plates to the tubes.
Then we formed a welded steel frame around the back of the plates. Both the steel frame and the length of the tube got filled with concrete which should help make them much harder to cut with a torch or saw. The tweakers have been busy up there and you may notice several gates missing. Steel is running about $.60 per pound...seems like a lot of work for a pretty small reward stealing steel.
Saturdays (June 30th) work party we will be installing the signs. Jake Terpeinen will be on hand with his excavator to dig the massive hole in which these things will be buried. They'll each have several 5' sections of re-bar sticking out of the bottom of them...sort of like tree roots to help keep them from being pulled out of the ground. Buried six plus feet deep they should be around for a while.
After the signs are installed they'll be painted orange for visibility.
You might notice the faces of the signs have nothing on them. Once the signs are installed the DNR is obtaining heavy duty reflective vinyl stickers that will be applied to the steel plates. The stickers can be easily replaced if the surface of the signs gets vandalized! Hopefully they won't run out of them too fast...
Installing these speed limit signs should accomplish several objectives. Currently the speed limit on the DNR road going to and from the staging area is 25 miles per hour...so even the honest law abiding folks have no notice that they need to slow down for something ahead. The speed limit signs will let them know that there is an OHV area ahead and they need to slow down. For the thoughtless losers who just don't care if they spend the rest of their lives in prison for killing someones child crossing the road on and ATV, the signs will provide a legitimate reason for law enforcement to cite them.
Saturdays work party will begin at 9:00 AM at the Jones Creek staging area. The work party is open to the public and your volunteer hours apply toward getting a free Discovery Pass. Temporary Discovery Passes will be issued for all volunteers at the work party so you will not need a Discovery Pass to attend the work party. Please bring gloves and dress for the weather.
_________________
mike.ames@jctra.org
Mike Ames
JCTRA V.P. Operations
Vancouver, Washington
2005 Kawasaki Brute Force 750
1998 Kawasaki Prairie 400 4X4
Crystal
* * * * *
In response to the many near misses and a few fortunately non-fatal accidents resulting from people driving too fast through the Jones Creek staging area, the DNR has opted to provided funding to build and install two heavy duty speed limit signs...one on each side of the Jones Creek staging area!
As the DNR provided the funding from one of the many grants that keep the Jones Creek OHV system alive, JCTRA has agreed to provide the labor to build and install the signs.
This morning Jack Compton, Bruce Wells, Ross Sicilia, Andy Drexler, and Shawn Mattson showed up at my house to help build the heavy duty signs.
We started with 6.5" steel tubing 10 feet long. I used a torch to notch the tubes to install the 12" x 18" X 3/4" plates which will be the surface of the speed limit signs. and welded the plates to the tubes.
Then we formed a welded steel frame around the back of the plates. Both the steel frame and the length of the tube got filled with concrete which should help make them much harder to cut with a torch or saw. The tweakers have been busy up there and you may notice several gates missing. Steel is running about $.60 per pound...seems like a lot of work for a pretty small reward stealing steel.
Saturdays (June 30th) work party we will be installing the signs. Jake Terpeinen will be on hand with his excavator to dig the massive hole in which these things will be buried. They'll each have several 5' sections of re-bar sticking out of the bottom of them...sort of like tree roots to help keep them from being pulled out of the ground. Buried six plus feet deep they should be around for a while.
After the signs are installed they'll be painted orange for visibility.
You might notice the faces of the signs have nothing on them. Once the signs are installed the DNR is obtaining heavy duty reflective vinyl stickers that will be applied to the steel plates. The stickers can be easily replaced if the surface of the signs gets vandalized! Hopefully they won't run out of them too fast...
Installing these speed limit signs should accomplish several objectives. Currently the speed limit on the DNR road going to and from the staging area is 25 miles per hour...so even the honest law abiding folks have no notice that they need to slow down for something ahead. The speed limit signs will let them know that there is an OHV area ahead and they need to slow down. For the thoughtless losers who just don't care if they spend the rest of their lives in prison for killing someones child crossing the road on and ATV, the signs will provide a legitimate reason for law enforcement to cite them.
Saturdays work party will begin at 9:00 AM at the Jones Creek staging area. The work party is open to the public and your volunteer hours apply toward getting a free Discovery Pass. Temporary Discovery Passes will be issued for all volunteers at the work party so you will not need a Discovery Pass to attend the work party. Please bring gloves and dress for the weather.
_________________
mike.ames@jctra.org
Mike Ames
JCTRA V.P. Operations
Vancouver, Washington
2005 Kawasaki Brute Force 750
1998 Kawasaki Prairie 400 4X4