Greater Avenues Community Council -- Home Page

Fourth Avenue Steps to Remain Open During Rebuild;
Stunning Computer Graphics Show How It Will Look

Feb. 3 - The contractor rebuilding the Fourth Avenue East Steps will be required to maintain pedestrian access as much as possible during the 90-day project, the GACC was told Wednesday.

Computer renderings by Envision Engineering

Dell Cook, SLC project manager and Rob Donigan of Logan Simpson Design told the gathering the nature of the "surgical repair" of the steps means the steps can remain open for use during work.

The steps won't be completely dug up (making the stairs inaccessible to pedestrians) Mr. Cook said. There is one house on the hillside next to the steps that is unreachable any other way but by walking the stairs, he said, so access will have to remain open.

The "surgical" repair is made necessary by an undergreound water line that cannot be disturbed. So the project calls just for removing damaged steps and walls and curbing and replacing them, with no change in design, while leaving the footings in place..

The city had planned a complete rebuild at over $400,000 until concerns about disturbing the water line--which is functioning perfectly well--caused a re-evaluation of the scope. Thus the heavy equipment that would have been used in a complete rebuild cannot be considered.

"We'll take the walls down to the footings and cut everything down to grade and rebuild from there,' said Mr. Cook.

Work will also involve clearing away the overgrown vegetation and replacing it with low-growing plants that will be watered with a new drip-irrigation system. The single area light pole will be replaced with eight 14-foot-high glassless light fiixtures that reflect light downward onto the ground and are designed to be impervious to vandalism.

The pipe railings are not code-compliant so will be replaced, and the existing iron lattice fence shields will be refurbished and reused as much as feasible. Code requires mesh no larger than four inches in railing/fence installations, so where there is a danger of small persons falling through and falling some distance, this mesh will replace the lattice.

The project is to go to bid in a few weeks.

Two More Months of Tree Pruning

Tree trimming to remove branches too close to power lines will continue on the Avenues for up to two more months, according to GACC Chairman Jim Jenkin.

Mr. Jenkin told the council that Rocky Mountain Power has contracted with Trees, Inc. to cut back branches to provide two to three-foot clearance away from distribution lines, and, on private property, one-foot clearance from house power lines.

"They will put a notice on your door five days before they'll be in your area," the chairman said.

Trees, Inc. will not do private work while they are on private property except that they will, at owner request, remove junk trees that are under power lines.

For more information, call Scott Vance, Trees, Inc. arborist at 801-220-7381.

Avenues Resident Researches Dangers of Cell Phone Use While Driving

by Jim Jenkin,
2010 GACC Chairman

Last year the GACC published a statement acknowledging the impairment of drivers by cell-phone use and calling on drivers to pull over to use the phone. A great deal of the credit for this goes to Avenues resident and University of Utah Professor David Strayer, who was willing to present his research findings to the GACC.

Progressive means being out in front and this year we find the topic heating up nationally. Corresponding with Dr. Strayer I hear about the formation of a group to support those dealing with cellphone associated loss and to lobby against cell-phone impaired driving, focusdriven.org. MADD and the National Safety Council reportedly assisted in the formation.

The National Safety Council also published an estimate that over a quarter of accidents are cell phone-related. For more, go to http://www.nsc.org/Pages/Home.aspx and click on news releases.

Awareness of the problem is growing in the popular media as well, with Dr. Strayer scheduled to appear on the Oprah Winfrey show on January 18 as the scientific expert for a segment focused on the subject. Dr. Strayer even mentions a coming web-based project with NPR/CarTalk/U of U.

Tom and Ray Magliozzi are, you may recall, the "Car Talk" radio program hosts and longtime opponents of cell-phone DWI and providers of the “Hang up and Drive!” bumper sticker.

Details about this and other projects and research are available on the Strayer Lab website at ww.psych.utah.edu/lab/
appliedcognition.

UTA has announced public hearings on the changes it proposes to institute on its Spring change day. Dropping Saturday service on route 11 will be a loss to the Avenues. Saturday service on the number 6 will continue.

Loss of sales tax revenues have caused belt tightening at UTA and this is one of the measures they have instituted to recoup budget shortfalls. The Avenues enjoyed some of the best bus service in the system for most of the time I’ve lived here, with the area from downtown to LDS hospital enjoying 15-minute service intervals, but Avenues folk don’t ride the bus enough to justify such service these days.

The advent of rail commuter services has also diverted resources from traditional neighborhood service to commuter service.

Be sure to set aside the second Saturday in May, the 8th, for the annual Memory Grove Cleanup, a GACC-sponsored event.

See you at the meeting!

Questions about the Council? Contact Jim Jenkin
Questions about this web site? Contact Dave Jonsson.