No, that's not a toy truck. It's a full-size dump truck parked next to a monstrous pile of debris from winter storms in King County.
As the weather warms up and thoughts turn to spring, King County residents are getting a better picture of the damage that winter has brought to their homes and yards. Missing a few shingles? Brush to clean up? Trees need trimming?
Well, you might consider your to-do list light, compared to the kind of work now facing the King County Department of Transportation (KCDOT). Each of the department's divisions – Roads, Transit, Fleet and Airport– is currently involved in a significant number of winter cleanup projects.
This week, the King County Road Services Division will begin “grinding away” at a massive accumulation of debris left behind by one of the worst winters we've seen in years. Instead of one huge storm, we saw a series of flooding, snow, ice and wind that packed an accumulated wallop.
Picture 3,200 big dump trucks all lined up, headlights to tailgates. The line would stretch for 17 miles – all the way from Seattle to Issaquah. Now, picture those dump trucks filled with splintered tree limbs, broken branches, and uprooted stumps. The combined load would be close to 40,000 cubic yards. That is how much winter debris the Road division has stockpiled at four locations around the county.
It will take approximately 80 hours to grind that debris into wood chips that can be used for county construction projects, erosion control, and landscaping.
“Our philosophy is to reuse materials as much as possible, and to save money whenever we can,” said Road Maintenance Superintendent Tony Ledbetter. “Our other option would have been to pay a recycler to take the debris, and then pay them again to buy it back in the form of wood chips.”
Instead, the division is contracting to have a huge chipping machine visit each of the four sites. The grinding will cost about $35,000. That is just a fraction of the overall costs the 2003-2004 winter has inflicted on King County. If you tally up the emergency response costs for three floods, two windstorms and one snowstorm – followed up by repair projects yet to be completed – then winter-related work will total about $3.4 million for the Road Services Division alone.
At King County Metro Transit, vehicle maintenance crews are still working to fix body damage on buses that were banged up during the January snowstorm. Most of the damage is cosmetic, non-essential repairs. But still, the repair work totals about $100,000. In addition, Metro also incurred approximately $350,000 in operating costs for overtime and equipment/supplies used to deal with the snow and ice.
Body work on storm-damaged vehicles has also kept the Fleet Administration Division busy. Fleet is responsible for the maintenance of more than 3,400 cars, trucks and pieces of heavy off-road equipment. Many of these vehicles are operated in winter emergency-response situations. Or, they are used to provide services which must continue even in foul weather – particularly services provided by the King County Sheriffs Office, KCDOT, and the Department of Natural Resources and Parks.
Falling trees damaged several vehicles during the past winter. A dump truck that was involved in a rollover accident during an ice storm required about $10,000 in repairs. A number of other county vehicles required bodywork to remove dents and to touch up paint. Fleet is expediting repairs, so that services to county residents will be unaffected.
At the King County International Airport, there was no serious property damage related to the winter weather. But, operations staff did go through almost 2,000 gallons of de-icer during the first snow and ice event at the beginning of the new year. A silver lining from the January storm was that King County was not as hard hit by the snow and ice as Portland. That meant KCIA stayed open and was able to accommodate some of the cargo traffic diverted from PDX, which brought in some additional revenue for King County.
While some of the KCDOT divisions are pleased to see winter coming to an end, the KCIA staff will continue to keep their eyes glued to the skies and the weather reports.
“At the airport, we don't worry about weather just in the winter,” said KCIA Assistant Director Mike Colmant. “We have to be very aware of any kind of severe weather year round and be prepared in advance to respond.”
"Hogzilla" at the King County Summit Maintenance yard.
See video of "Hogzilla" at work! (real media)
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Text transcript of video
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King County Metro Transit is seeking applicants for the Burien Transit Center Community Advisory Group. Approximately 15 transit riders, community members, and local business owners will be selected to represent a broad cross-section of community and rider interests. Their goal is to give Metro advice on design and construction of a new transit center in downtown Burien.
The advisory group will have its first meeting on April 14, 2004. For more information about joining the advisory group, visit Metro Online or the project website.
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Adopt-a-Road featured volunteers for March
Helping to keep our community beautiful is a family affair for the Adams family in the Star Lake community. Friends and family get toether every six months in the membory of James Hall Adams III, to keep 55th Avenue South (from South 295th Street to South 272nd Street) free of litter.
The Adopt-a-Road program establishes a partnership between volunteer groups and the King County Road Services Division by working together in the efforts of litter control along neighborhood roads.
Volunteer groups can "adopt" a two-mile stretch of road by removing litter at least two times a year over a two-year period. For more information, visit the project website.
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It's the ‘FOD' Squad
It's also spring-clean time at the King County International Airport, as staff go hunting for foreign objects and debris (FOD) that might pose hazard to aircraft.
During the FOD walk, airport staff walks the airport runways, taxiways and areas in between looking for any objects that might impede safe operations.
An airport emoyee looks
for
foreign
objects near the runway.
The runways and taxiways are inspected and cleaned daily, but the FOD walk gives the staff a chance to closely examine the grounds, and look for new cracks in the asphalt or areas that may have settled during the winter. It also gives the maintenance staff a jump on cleaning and repairs that may be needed as the weather warms up and general aviation traffic from private pilots increases.
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Roadwork ahead
Here is a list of King County Department of Transportation projects that may disrupt traffic and travel this week:
South 277th Street, between Auburn and Kent - There will be no lane closures, but there will be traffic disruptions can be expected on South 277th Street between the West Valley Highway and 72nd Avenue South, and along nearby sections of State Route 167.
Northeast 124th Street, north of Redmond -
Work continues through October 2004 on Northeast 124th Street between Willows Road and State Route 202.
124th Avenue NE, in Kingsgate - Private utility relocation is underway now to be followed by street improvements along 124th Avenue Northeast between Northeast 132nd Street and Northeast 146th Place.
Edgewick Bridge, east of North Bend -
Preparations have begun to replace the Edgewick Bridge. During the month of March, a contractor will be driving piles and installing the superstructure of the temporary bridge and rails.
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DOT Dash