The Chambers underpass on the Fern Ridge Bike Trail was flooded again at 6pm today. The picture on the left is actually of the Chambers underpass flooding a few months ago, but it was pouring while I was there today and I didn’t want to get my camera out. I figure if you’ve seen one Chambers underpass flood, you’ve seen them all.
According to a commenter, the last time the Chambers underpass flooded, the West 11th and Beltline underpasses also flooded. Bike path flooding tends to leave behind lots of slick mud and debris– such as broken glass and sticks— so be extra careful on your morning commutes.
I didn’t see the flooding until 6pm, so I was unable to report it to the City Maintenance Hotline (682-4800): they are only open from 8 am to 5 pm. It would have been nice to give them an early heads-up so that they could have cleared the path for the morning commuters. Unlike the City’s leaf program website (currently suspended), there are no after-hours options for reporting debris issues.
However, they do have a 24 hour pothole reporting form which I’ve begun using when the hotline is closed to report maintenance and debris (such as glass in the bike right-of-way). I don’t know if doing this is effective, but if we all start doing it maybe something will change.
Was there flooding on your ride today or recently? Let us know using our recently-fixed comments form!
I actually love seeing these flooded, but I use the river path to commute to Springfield each day, so it doesn’t affect my commute.
I’ll head out there and assess the damage tomorrow after my day.
I was disappointed to find that there is no voice mail set up for after hours calls when dealing with a problem in the past.
You gotta wonder what will happen next year after Council completely eliminates the budget for bike path upkeep.
Yep–I was riding out to the Envision Eugene workshop around 6:30 p.m. I figured the Chambers underpass would be flooded, so I went up to the street for that crossing–but a little ways west I hit another flood at the underpass just before Garfield. I foundered in the water, and ended up wading through nearly knee-deep water to get through.
The wild thing was that at 4 pm it was so sunny and nice that I decided to do my bike/pad counts at the Blue Heron Bridge. It clouded up and started to rain by 5:00 so I packed it up then it started to dump again.
Pretty ready for a break.
This weekend holds good potential, which will be good for the Walkin’ & Rollin’ the West Eugene Wetlands event:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=116830541685603&index=1