Travis County Commissioners Court
November 9, 2004
Item 3
Number 3 is to receive comments regarding a traffic regulation prohibiting
through trucks on yager lane between cameron road and parmer lane in precinct
1.
>> move the public hearing be opened.
>> second.
>> all in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
>> perhaps if I change mics. Perhaps the best way to show
you what's going on here is by map. This is northeast Travis County. This
is 290. Springdale road. Giles road. A landfill is located right here. What's
happening is truck traffic is coming down parmer lane going down yager lane,
blue goose and down. There is this road, which is harris branch parkway, is
inside the city of Austin. And the city of Austin has already adopted truck
prohibitions on harris branch parkway, so there's no trucks allowed to go
down harris branch to the landfill. So we're cutting down -- they're cutting
down yager lane. Yager lane also has single-family units. It's not subdivided
like you would see in harris branch, but nonetheless, quite a few single-family
units. We have gotten a request from the property owners to restrict trucks
on yager lane. As a result of that we went out and did a traffic survey. Typically
you would have anywhere between five and eight percent of your total traffic
is trucks. In this case you have 33 percent of your traffic is trucks. It's
a very heavy volume of trucks on yager lane. They're also travelling at speeds
of about 50 miles per hour. So what the neighborhood has asked is that there
be restrictions on truck traffic on yager lane. Beyond the alter net route
on that point would be for the trucks to come down cameron road and then from
cameron back on to blue goose. It would avoid yager, but shift the traffic
on to cameron. I think there's people representing both neighborhoods here
to testify today, not only from yager lane, but also representatives from
harris branch parkway who are fearful that perhaps by us restricting traffic
on yager the trucks would be pushed over on harris. Which is in the city of
Austin and already has truck prohibitions on it. So there's a little bit of
a conflict between areas. But the truck traffic is a problem up in this neck
of the woods because of the landfill and the industrial uses that are taking
place. Ultimately there is a lack of arterial road network in this whole area,
so there's not many alternative routes for the trucks to use to get to the
landfill. That's another subject, and we'll address that probably in another
agenda item later. Right now we're talking about the proposed truck restrictions
on yager lane, and that is the subject of our public hearing.
>> and I know where parmer is, but -- so cameron ends at
rundberg?
>> cameron actually goes -- cameron goes all the way up to
northeast Travis County. Starts at 290, meanders all the way up. But the section
we're talking about is between parmer lane and blue goose. That's the piece
of cameron road that's affected by this restriction.
>> and blue goose is south of parmer?
>> that's right, parallel and south of parmer.
>> so this stretch is .7 miles long?
>> on yager lane, yes. This is parmer lane right here. This
is yager lane, this section that will have the truck restrictions. This is
cameron road. So the trucks, instead of coming down yager to hit cameron,
to go over to cameron and come around this way instead. And then on to blue
goose and on to the landfill. We're basically pushing the truck traffic over
to cameron road and this will go cameron to blue goose rather than use either
yager or harris branch parkway.
>> so we believe that the detour that you recommend is a
reasonable alternate route?
>> yes, we do.
>> let's see who agrees with you, joe. Would anybody like
to give testimony during this public hearing? If you would come forward, we'll
get joe to slide down to one end. That leaves four chairs available. And if
you would give us your name, we would be happy to get your comments.
>> right here?
>> yes, sir.
>> that's fine. Just get real comfortable there.
>> I知 ruben (indiscernible). I live on the corner of cameron
and yager. And when the trucks come off of blue goose off of cameron road
and that's where the noise actually starts about two, three, 4:00 o'clock
in the morning. Every time you go to yager and cameron -- [ inaudible ]. So
I don't know how it came out on the letter, but we asked for a restriction
from blue goose to cameron road to avoid the traffic coming into that area.
That's what we're asking for.
>> so it's the truck noise that is bother some?
>> it's bothersome. That and the lack of respect for the
community. We have tried to -- before we contacted your office, we called
all these companies time and time company. And every time we did, it seemed
like they came down a little bit harder. I think the -- my neighbors can come
and talk about that. That's what we're here for today, we're just asking for
a peaceful neighborhood. And also for the motorists that go through the same
road and they're trying to get to work, there are moms and pops and babies
in the cars, they have to drive very careful too.
>> okay.
>> sir, my name is thomas mcdaniel. And I believe I wrote
to the Commissioner a letter, and in my letter it stated that we would like
to have from blue goose, come ran road and yager just to keep the trucks from
coming through because they come through really fast. And like ruben said,
they do obscene gestures to us when they come by. They blow their horns in
the morning, waving and stuff, four, 5:00 o'clock in the morning. They're
getting pretty radical, and that's why we're here today trying to solve this
problem. And we have called all the companies and asked them to have their
drivers slow down. And there's nothing done about it. So we're asking to please
help us.
>> my name is joyce betts and I知 speaking today on behalf
of my neighbors in harris branch. We fully support the request to close yager
lane to truck traffic between parmer lane and cameron road. This is clearly
a case where the needs of people take precedence over the business interests
of garbage trucks and gasoline tankers. We do ask for a delay of the closure
until certain conditions can be met, and these conditions are construction
of appropriate signage at the parmer, yager intersection as well as the cameron
road, parmer intersection, giving clear direction to truck traffic. At present
there is no sign on parmer lane indicating the intersection with cameron road.
If the trucks miss that turn, it is our neighborhood's concern that the trucks
will simply continue on another 200 feet and turn on to harris branch parkway
instead. Harris branch parkway is also marked, as mr. Gieselman has pointed
out, for no truck traffic. About 4,000 people from our neighborhood use that
street for access, as well as hundreds of other cars travelling between parmer
lane and east highway 290. In addition, several hundred children attend an
elementary school locate odd that street. The presence of trucks there is
a serious hazard and a clear marking of cameron road is essential to prevent
illegal trucks from continuing on to harris branch parkway. The second issue
is that although the city of Austin has recently done some resurfacing on
the northern section of cameron road, most of the city's portion of the road
is not striped. In addition to the striping, more improvements need to be
made to the low water crossings and bridge on that stretch of road and a substantial
amount of brush to be removed from the right-of-way. Further, the speed limit
signs need to be coordinated. There are two speed limit signs. The southbound
sign from parmer on cameron road says the speed limit is 40, while the northbound
side traffic on cameron road towards parmer says the speed limit is 35. We
request that the county engineer and staff work with the city of Austin to
see that signage and road upgrades are completed as soon as possible. The
third issue with regards three way intersection at yager and cameron. Although
traffic studies indicate that the last reported accident was in 1997, the
yager lane neighbors apparently have observed dangerous situations that need
to be corrected. Because there will still be substantial trafk on yager lane
and at that intersection, we request that the county take whatever steps are
necessary to make the intersection safe. And we certainly do understand the
situation with the trucks because we've dealt with that many times as well.
And we certainly agree that there needs to be as little disruption for people
as possible, and I believe on the particular section of cameron road, there
is one residence, and it is set quite far back from the road. So in terms
of being the better route and physical link, we support them in saying that
cameron road would be the better route. As taxpayers in both the city and
the county, my neighborhood encourages the county and city staff to work together
to provide a safe environment for all of us. Thank you.
>> thank you.
>> thank you.
>> I live on the stretch of cameron road that we've just
been talking about, and there are three families on that road. I知 sorry.
>> between cameron road and parmer?
>> cameron road --
>> yager?
>> I live right to the east of the intersection of cameron
and yager.
>> okay.
>> i've been living there since 1941. My parents bought that
place in 1941. I grew up out there. I've lived there for a long time. I was
gone awhile, but i've lived there since 1989 again. Interpreting truck traffic
on this portion of cameron road is not safe either. Because the portion of
the road through the harris branch property, which is in the Austin city limits,
never has been upgraded, has got not potholes in it, but it's been patched,
it's uneven. Like the lady said, there are weeds there. The city of Austin
never maintains it. And the road is not designed to have heavy truck traffic
on it. There's a low water crossing and a narrow bridge which both flood when
it rains. So where are the trucks going to go then during that time? I have
some pictures that show the barricades that are still sitting there right
now. The bridge that's involved down there that the lady was talking about
is 23 feet wide, and you put big trucks on there, it's in an area that is
going to curve, and the trucks are going to be coming across in the opposite
lanes because they have to to make that bridge. And so if you're meeting someone
there, because it's a blind corner, it's in a blind area, because of all the
weeds and the trees and the bamboo and everything that's grown up around there,
somebody is going to get killed there because the trucks are going to be coming
across in the opposite lane and you're going to meet them there. And you've
got two choices, head on with the truck or over the side of the bridge, which
is about 15 feet deep. The bridge hasn't been updated since the 40's to my
knowledge, and at one time there was a load limit sign there. It's not there
any more. The reason I know that it was a load limit bridge is because my
father had grain that he delivered to a granary, and he couldn't use that
bridge because of the load limit. He had to use a different road. This portion
of cameron road has not been maintained since it was annexed into the city
limits of Austin. It's uneven, has rough patches. There's no way to get off
on the side because of the weeds, the grass, the trees and the georgia canes,
and there are areas where the grass, weeds are leaning into the right-of-way,
making the road even narrower than 24 feet in places. The lanes are not marked
and the bridge signs on the north side can't be seen for the weeds, tree limbs
and grass. And like the lady said, the speed limit on this stretch of road
is 40 miles per hour. Yager lane is 35. That means that all traffic, including
the trucks, will be driving 55. Yager lane has a speed limit of 35 miles per
hour, and it's more open and is a little wider. Or seems wider because it's
been mowed and kept. The intersection of cameron road and parmer lane is very
close to the traffic signal at harris branch parkway. And if you're coming
cameron road and you're wanting to turn on to parmer lane, especially left,
it's going to be difficult to access parmer lane as the traffic backs up past
this intersection waiting for the green light. Attempting to turn off parmer
lane on to cameron road will be dangerous as traffic will think that a right
turn signal means turning at harris branch parkway, which is right down the
road a little piece, very shortly. The intersection of cameron and yager will
be more dangerous as traffic on cameron road has the right-of-way, but people
will be darting across to yager lane without yielding as they're already doing.
We were also told by an engineer for cook, steinman and associates at a hearing
at the city planning commission on March the 28th, 2000, that cameron road
would be closed when harris branch developed the sterling bridge section of
harris branch. We were also told by a road foreman for Austin road and bridge
that this portion of cameron road was not resurfaced because it was to be
closed in the future. Therefore I don't see that diverting truck traffic into
cameron road is a viable decision. It seems that a more sensible approach
would be to enforce the speed limit and put a three way stop at cameron road
and yager lane intersection or take the trucks off of those roads altogether
and limit them to the major roads of the highways 290 and parmer. Thank you.
>> thank you very much.
>> joe, can you clear up the jurisdiction. The section of
cameron from the y intersection there to parmer, is that city of Austin or
Travis County?
>> city of Austin past our gate all the way down to parmer.
>> the city limits is right there here.
>> thank you. Okay.
>> so this is city, this is county.
>> got it. Thank you. And in terms of -- because we've had
a lot of these goofy y intersections as well. If the intent is to keep cameron
and to keep it going on to cameron, is there any kind of improvement that
is suggested for the y intersection that really makes cameron the through
route as opposed to right now it really still seems to be on a map that yager
is the more direct route. My question is is it possible for yager to be t'd
into cameron as opposed to cameron being t'd into come ran/yager.
>> i'll ask my traffic engineer that question.
>> because otherwise we still have typical construction of
that y intersection that seems to be using yager as a more direct route.
>> I知 david greer, and right now cameron road -- I guess
the main direction of the county road does continue on cameron. There's curve
warning signs for that curve, and the pavement also is very clear that the
road continues that way. And yager kind of doesn't t in, but y's in. There
could be certain ways we could manage that intersection a little bit to make
it even more clear. That's about all I can think of right now.
>> david, just a quick follow-up of the suggestion we just
got there related to the possibility of putting stop signs at that y intersection
that basically says you are not allowed to blast through here at whatever
speed you can pick up at. That there is a point there that you have to stop
and slow acceleration? Can that be looked at?
>> right now if you come up cameron and you want to turn
on to yager, you have to make essentially a left turn, but because of the
configuration, you can almost just go straight through without making a left
turn. You have to yield to southbound cameron right now. We can't put a stop
sign on cameron at that location because it's not really an intersection.
Southbound yager there is a stop sign.
>> thanks very much. Who else wants to testify during this
public hearing? Can I see your hands? Anybody else in the audience going to
testify on this? Two more people? Three more? Thank you, ms. Rimer. So is
this a temporary solution recommended or what?
>> there's really no alternative at this point unless you
just want to totally prohibit trucks on any of the roads.
>> you wrote down the points that ms. Brimmer made? Yes,
sir, in the middle?
>> I知 curt way rick and I知 with waste management. We use
that road that they're talking about. Really the young lady on my left here
pretty much covered all the points that we were going to make. One is that
that road as far as it being cleaned off and on for easy access and being
able to see on the road. Making the turns off of that road right or left are
going to be a bit difficult for truck traffic. Also when it does rain, and
the rains we've had lately, that road is pretty much impassable. You cannot
use that road. Really springdale, which is further up this way, we're trying
-- we're not supposed to be using springdale either. Basically what we're
doing is we're cutting off all northern thoroughfares up to parmer. That's
pretty much what it's going to come down to. And 290 is the only alternative.
If it rains that would be our only road. We wouldn't be able to use that road.
We'd have to come back down. Of course, harris branch, that's already been
covered that we can't use that road. So it's really getting limited. They're
kind of narrowing down the thoroughfares that we're allowed to use. I知 just
pointing that out. And that particular y intersection that they're talking
about using is in need of repair.
>> do you recall complaints from the neighborhood association?
>> we have. We address them during our safety meetings, we
sit down with the drivers, our drivers. There's a lot of traffic that -- two
landfills, there's quite a few different companies that are using that road.
In our safety meetings we address about speeding on the road, using the road.
It took us a little while to finally get everybody on board not to use springdale
know more because of the fact that there are a lot of organized residents
and all that that didn't want us on that road. So we've made a conscious effort
to stay off of there. On the road that we're using here, as far as the speeding
and all, we do address it. I didn't bring the safety meetings when we do cover
it, but repeatedly whenever we get a phone call, it's immediately put on the
Wednesday safety meeting or information meeting for that morning to cover
with the drivers. If a driver should ever get a speeding ticket or any kind
of violation on that road, they know it's a disciplinary action. Two of those
could mean termination of their job. We address it seriously whenever anything
could happen. Or if they get in an accident, we also have a discipline procedure
for accidents and incidents. So we make a conscious effort to try and limit
the speed that the drivers are going on that road. And we address it during
our meetings almost immediately after it's brought up by the residents. We
try to -- their our neighbors. We don't want to infewer rate our numbers because
we have to use that road often.
>> what if we get between now and Friday a specific list
of actions that waste management could take with its drivers to address some
of the yager lane problems? I知 suggesting, joe, that we cannot act on this
today anyway. But if you do that, that would help some.
>> you give them to me and we'll jump on them.
>> okay. Yes, ma'am?
>> my name is wanda gallon and I live on yager lane. And
waste management has -- i've noticed that their trucks during the day do drive
slower. It's the night or the early morning when they don't. There are a lot
of waste trucks that are travelling down that road that are either not part
of his company as a whole or both of those landfills, they are like other
companies that have subcontracted with them to use their waste. Those companies
aren't here and it's -- they do speed all times during the day. I have a neurological
condition that physically handy caps me from walking many times and I have
been pushed into the ditch when I go to get my mail. We can't go to -- I can't
cross the road to get my mail easily because of the truck traffic. Now, I
have my son and my husband that they primarily pick it up for me and we do
have a younger child that lives on our road, and they've tried to let her
ride the bike even with her parents, and she can't do that. We just don't
have a normal life-style on that because of the increased truck traffic. We
used to only have waste trucks, and now we're getting petroleum trucks, rock
trucks. Our road bed is probably not configured to handled that. The best
would be parmer to 290 because they're a tricker bedded road, and eventually
they're going to tear our road up by allowing that to stay on there. And the
larger 18-wheeler trucks are constantly blowing their horns. It doesn't matter
what time of day. They come down there and in order to keep us off of the
road, they just -- from the start of our road to parmer from cameron to parmer,
they lay on their horn. And whether it's for the animals or people driving
out of their driveways, but you cannot see anybody or anything, and they're
still honking their horn all the time.
>> the comment that you made, is that significant truck traffic,
is it in the morning? What time of the day?
>> it goes probably from about 3:00 in the morning until
about 11:30 at night.
>> okay. And I guess my concern is the complaints that have
been coming in, and I know waste management did say that they have looked
and investigated --
>> and you can tell that waste management has done something
because if waste management sees you, they slow down and not their horn. But
that's their trucks. That doesn't include bfi, it doesn't include Texas landfill
trucks, action. There are several other -- they subcontract out to different
companies besides just their own that they allow to come to their landfill.
And those companies, they don't do anything about their trucks. I have noticed
a difference with waste management personally because they are slower. But
we are posted at 35 miles per hour. And you don't make as much noise when
you go 35 miles per hour. As when you go 50.
>> you live on yager lane, ma'am?
>> yes.
>> thank you. Yes, sir. We have two seatsavailable if g testimony
during this public hearing, please come forward. Yes?
>> I live at 305 mulcher road. That's just north of yager
lane, running into it. And i've got a pasture on the southeast corner of parmer
and yager there, and them 18 wheeleders come down through there and they will
mow you down. They're there before you know it. And they couldn't stop. And
when they come off of parmer there and go down yager they take up the whole
road and run eafer the curb too. -- over the rush too. And coming north, they're
running 50, 55 miles per hour knowing they've got to stop up there. And it's
kind of dangerous the trucks coming through there and they're tearing that
road up too. The road was fixed four or five years ago. That's about all i've
got to say.
>> so you're in favor of the action that's recommended?
>> yeah.
>> limiting truck traffic on yager at this point?
>> yes.
>> I知 kent whitmire. This is my neighbor. The trucks come
at three or four in the morning and they come by empty first. And the roads
are so wavy the trucks bounce and is sounds like thunder when they land, every
morning that they go by. In the nighttime when they come back, they leave
trash, computer parts, construction trash, everything for the next week, the
-- the trash that people come by and pick up, once a week they pick up all
the stuff that they leave off. But the noise and the trash is one thing, the
speed is outrageous. I知 not there -- I知 out there every morning and every
afternoon waving them down, please slow down, please slow down. Read my lips,
please slow down. I do everything. And my neighbor is iew there doing the
same thing. They honk, they disregard us. They threaten. I've seen a truck
if he could have stopped he would have come back, but he was going so fast,
you know -- I know he was mad at me, but he's going so fast he can't stop.
And I pull out of my driveway, I look down my driveway and nothing's coming.
I get out on the street, they're on me so quick that he's doing 50 or 60 when
I didn't see him when I pulled out of my driveway. The noise, the safety.
This is my daughter she was talking about, can't ride her bike, can't exercise
like kids like to do. I've got to keep all my dogs inside my gate because
I done had one run over by a big truck. And my neighbors have had animals
killed, pets. And I live right in the middle of that stretch where they pick
up all the speed right there in front of my house, and that's -- that's not
the best road in the world, and they're bouncing up and down and making noise
and throwing trash on the road. That's all I have to say.
>> thank you. Yes, sir?
>> my name is cease sill (indiscernible) and I live on the
county road and my wife just spoke here just recently. I知 aware of what the
problems that the people on yager lane are having, but to me that -- to move
that traffic on to cameron road is one of the dumbest things i've ever seen.
It's very unsafe. And what he was just saying that the trucks are all over
the road, when they come down cameron road and they try to cross this bridge
on the curve, a blind curve, they're going to be forced to move into the opposite
lane, and that's bad. I drove an 18-wheeler for a number of years, and I know
that you cannot stay in that lane -- in one lane to make a curve, so it would
be very dangerous and I知 very opposed to putting trucks on cameron road because
it's not safe. I知 on that road everyday, and there's no place to go, nobody
maintains it. Nobody maintains the speed. I don't understand why in this is
in the city limit why the city doesn't do something. We've called them a number
of types to come clean the grass down on the side so we have a shoulder. They
never show up. I don't know why they would do that now. Who's going to maintain
that road, that's what my question is? Who is going to maintain it and keep
it up. It needs repairs in the worst way, it needs to be widened. What are
the steps that are going to be done to take care of this? Thank you.
>> i've got one more comment on this. I've been asked for
an alternative route, and blew goose and cameron they can always go straight,
straight to ferguson to cameron road. I work on rundberg myself. And there's
a lot of difference in the 35 miles speed where I work at and where I live
they're both 35, but there's a lot more difference in the respect and the
way they maintain the trucks. In town it's a smoother ride. Where we're at
its a little bit rougher. At two or three in the morning, they could easily
get on 290. You could get to south Austin in 15, 20 minutes. No traffic holding
you back. Why do they have to use our neighborhood? And we do ask you -- that's
what we would prefer since we have the trucks there and putting the three-way
stop or whatever, they're still there, shooting the fingers at us, using the
mf word at us. And -- at men and women. And it's going beyond speed and noise.
They're getting real aggressive with us.
>> so when did these problems start?
>> these problems started years ago, many years ago. Last
year -- I just started -- last year in November, if you care to see this list.
>> if you give me a copy of it, he will make sure the court
gets it.
>> we have called all these companies, my neighbors have
called the companies, and they all say they have safety meetings, they talk
to their drivers. It seems like when we do this, we tried to control the situation,
they come down a little bit hard on us.
>> meaning instead of getting better, they get worse?
>> yes, sir. Sometimes it's like -- they see the bigger companies
doing it and now they have the individuals coming through there. If they can
do it, they don't see why other people can't do it. We need this solved today
or come back next month.
>> well, I think we will need a little time. It seems to
be bigger than we thought. Now, we have -- if you were here during this public
hearing and would like to give comment, this is your last opportunity to come
forward. So please do so at this time. Then we have two more speakers. Yes,
sir.
>> my name is Ron mcgoen,ive live in the center section of
yager lane. And this problem when it started, it started when they brought
parmer lane through because it became a main thoroughfare and it became a
shortcut for all the vehicles to get -- particularly to the landfill. One
thing that's been mentioned that hasn't really been pointed out or emphasized
is not only are we getting the waste carrying the garbage trucks, we are starting
to get quite a volume of petroleum carriers, gasoline haulers. And they're
coming through this area, cutting through over to johnnie morris. So it's
become a shortcut for everybody to take. The road wasn't designed for that.
It's a two-lane road. It's not straight. They've upgraded the surface on it
a couple of times, most likely due because it was carrying more than it was
supposed to. Alternative routes, what is being proposed here and going on
the stretch of cameron, I agree with our neighbors that live on cameron. I
want the trucks off my road, but they don't belong there. That is a low water
crossing. It's closed. It's a bridge that doesn't have any side rails. If
you can imagine what would happen if you were to lose a fuel tanker down there
in the ditch, it's going right into a greek. You would have a huge cleanup
problem. But that's -- the alternative to me is to take everybody down the
four-lane highway to 290. And come around that way. You've got roads that
are built for that. The capacity is there to handle the traffic. That seems
to me to be the reasonable solution for it. But we do have -- we have a problem.
We've got a problem with the noise, we've got a problem with speed. And we
have roadways out there that just aren't designed to haul the loads that are
being put on them.
>> okay. What have we not heard? Ms. Betts?
>> I wanted to say that I think that mr. Mcgoen has touched
on a solution here. When I spoke with the county I was told that there was
no way the county can designate or recommend a specific route for the trucks.
But it seems to me the solution is if the county would support us in going
to the state and asking the state to insist that parmer lane to 290 is the
truck route, that would solve the problems as far as the trucks are concerned
on the cut-through traffic and being around neighborhoods with lots of people.
I don't know what your ability is to do that. We're asking you to support
whatever needs to be done to make that happen.
>> and our final speaker today... Yes, ma'am?
>> I just wanted to agree with what has been said. I agree
with her whole wholeheartedly. I wish that you as the Commissioners or whoever
could help us to designate roads that are actually made for truck traffic
instead of putting them through the country where they weren't designed for
that. I do have one question. Is the truck traffic -- if the truck traffic
is rerouted on to cameron road or some of these roads are des eggnated as
no truck traffic, what happens if a person lives on that road and has a truck
and has -- does, you know, business with this truck? I mean not out there,
but they're going to have to access that road to get home and to wherever
they're going. So I have a neighbor who has a truck that he carries equipment
and things on, an 18-wheeler, and does some mowing. And so I was wondering
what would happen there. And one other comment and then I知 through. I have
some pictures of that stretch of cameron road that we're talking about with
the low water crossing, and the bridge that does not have the rail, like the
man said, and I知 going to give them to you.
>> are you prepared to leave those with us?
>> yes, sir, I am.
>> thank you.
>> and it needs -- if need be, i'll discuss them with you
or you can give me a call. My number is 272-8352. And i'll be glad to meet
anyone out there and take you down on that stretch of road if necessary.
>> what's your last name?
>> brimert? Evelyn.
>> we have your family here today, don't we?
>> yes.
>> what's the answer to that question, joe?
>> the solution would be for through trucks, anyone that's
delivering or lives on the road with a truck, the restriction would not apply.
>> but through trucks would be prohibited, not what they
call local traffic. If you have business inside there, then you would be allowed
to do it. Do we need one week or two weeks?
>> two weeks.
>> joe, I don't know -- (indiscernible). No through traffic
trucks on the road, I think by law you have to a have an alternate route for
the truck traffic to travel on. And I think -- is that by law? What's the
deal on that?
>> there's no requirement in the law that you have an alternate
route before you do a no through truck prohibition. That's more of a policy
matter or a traffic management matter, but there's no legal --
>> okay. I wanted to get that clear. It was also brought
to my attention that you had to have an alternate route. Or if you do install
no through -- before you do install no through truck traffic signs. If that's
a policy decision and not a requirement, you have two parties here that are
being impacted, the folks that live on yager lane and of course the ones that
live on cameron road. Some of the disclosures that we've had today, the things
that we've talked about the traffic on that road, from the trucks, not only
that, but the rudeness and the behavior of the truck drivers I think is something
that's not tolerable as far as I知 concerned. So again, I think we do need
some time to maybe hash out some things, but I知 glad that tom illustrated
the point and brought out the point that we do not have to have an alternate
route for trucks if we install no through truck traffic signs. I think it's
very significant. And so I want to make sure that that's very clear as far
as where we're coming from and what we need to do to make sure that you have
a comfort level in the area where you reside. Again, I知 looking forward to
looking at the recommendations of what we've heard today, come back to the
Commissioners court so we can move forward, and have some kind of quality
of life for these folks up there that have been bombarded by a whole bunch
of stuff. The truck traffic is just one element that we're involved with.
Thank you.
>> Commissioner Daugherty?
>> what's the mileage -- what's the mileage roadwise, not
as the crow files, from yager and cameron if you were to take it all the way
to 290 and then from -- or parmer and then parmer back to blue goose to basically
the landfill? Approximately how many miles is that?
>> I anticipated the question. From the landfill to the intersection
of yager and parmer, there's it's a different mileage, if you took 290 to
parmer and then back up yager, it would be of .5 mieldz. Right now the road
we're taking up to yager and all the way up to parmer is 3.9 miles.
>> okay. From yager is parmer is how far?
>> from yager to the landfill.
>> to the landfill.
>> yes. To yager at parmer. And the landfill is a 3.9-mile
route.
>> so the differential is roughly three miles?
>> yes.
>> what percentage of the truck traffic is waste related?
>> it's really hard to determine exactly. I'd hate to try
to guess. It was a mix of petroleum trucks and trash trucks.
>> so 33% of the traffic may be truck traffic, so how many
trucks per day would that be?
>> the stretch of yager is 161 trucks southbound, 155 northbound.
>> a day?
>> yeah, that's 33% of the total traffic, 161 is. You could
back that out and get a total volume.
>> so about 500. So you have 450 to 500 cars a day on yager,
of which a third of them is trucks. And you've got -- if you've been out there
at all, you've got to know the overwhelming majority of them are going to
the landfill, obviously you have a lot of those type trucks, but the majority
of them are for the landfill.
>> probably, yes.
>> I guess as far as the percentage --
>> let's put it off for two weeks. We'll have it back on.
>> I just wonder how many trucks -- I can't give you the
exact amount, but just the tankers alone, when we have done some research
on 290, we were getting the figures of 200 trucks a day. Just tankers, just
gasoline tankers.
>> 200?
>> 200 minimum a day one way. And (indiscernible). They used
to take springdale, now they have to take something else.
>> and judge, two weeks, i'll hold my questions until later.
>> if you have business that you were not able to -- testimony
you were not able to give today, should they contact the engineer or you.
854-8943.
>> move that the public hearing be closed.
>> and joe will get that information. All in favor? That
passes by unanimous vote. Thank you very much for coming down. We'll try to
do the right thing.
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Last Modified:
Wednesday, October 26, 2005 3:19 PM