A VISIT TO LAKE STEVENS &
GRANITE FALLS
(Via SR 9 and SR 92)
Did the Valley Chamber of Commerce "grovel for gravel" during Shindig, 2003?
Saturday, July 26, 2003 was clear and sunny with bright blue skies and nary a whisp of a cloud, just the kind of day to take off into the cooling mountains after weeks of dry, hot scorching weather. So we did. Ray and I traveled north on SR 9 and beyond to the North Cascades Highway, an extremely too-rare getaway day. Yet, even on a day off, I couldn't help but notice the sign above, placed strategically at various locations along SR 9, between the junction of SR 2 and the approximate intersection of SR 92. Its large size and orange flags naturally caught my eye, primarily because I had never seen anything similar before. Also eye-catching was the SR 9 roadway in that same area, the deterioration of which had been significant in the three years we had last made that trip.
What could account for sign a glaring "caution" sign and destroyed road surface? The answer is simple: gravel trucks. Lots and lots of gravel trucks traversing the gravel pits in Granite Falls to Lake Stevens, SR 2 to Everett, and Snohomish and beyond. So the next day I took another trip to Lake Stevens (for a photo of this sign). And as long as I had come that far, decided to travel into Granite Falls to see how it had fared since my last trip in early January, 2001 (after the announcement of DNR's Powerplant Project auction).
In the 9-mile stretch between SR 9 and downtown Granite Falls, 25 gravel trucks passed me going west. And that was 11:45 a.m., considerably later than the "rush" hour when trucks must pick up their loads and get to construction sites early.
As I drove into "downtown" Granite Falls, I was struck by the sense that I had entered an 1860's mining camp -- bustling with vehicles and gravel trucks everywhere, on a well-worn and many-patched road surface on its last legs. As I stopped and watched at the corner of Alder and Stanley, gravel trucks were everywhere -- coming, going or stopped to refuel both driver and vehicle. Unfortunately, the pictures I took of the roadway in front of the middle school (below) did not come out well. (Frankly, I found it a bit difficult to get a better picture without endangering life and limb, so prevalent were the gravel-hauling mechanical behemoths.) However, if you download one of them and enlarge it to look at the pavement, you'll get a better sense of the damage.
I would highly urge everyone to make a trip to Granite Falls -- preferably in the morning hours -- so they can comprehend first hand how very much "a part of the community" Rinker and CSR are. In my opinion, they have eaten it up and spat it back out.
A 2-mile bypass has been planned that will help free Granite Falls from some of the truck traffic.
PHOTOS FROM GRANITE FALLS
Above: A gravel truck rolls past the Granite Falls' middle school. This photo (and the one below) quite simply does not show the damage done to the road.
One of hundreds of gravel trucks that thunder past the middle school daily.
On Alder Avenue, a mile or so from the CSR gravel mining site, is a large
sign offering hope to motorists and GF residents of a proposed bypass
to being construction in 2007. Who will pay for this, I wonder? (And,
PUL-EEZE, Mssrs. Criswell and Porter, do not trot out that tired,
wheezing old refrain, "If the Granite FALLS' residents hadn't fought
the CSR plant, the gravel company would have paid for the bypass!")
Cadman's Gold Bar site is an example of how much gravel companies pay.
The impact fees as stated in their May, 2003 EIS (Chapter 3.9, Transportation)
states they will pay a bit under $90,000 in impact fees for roadways.
Gee, with luck, that might just pay for the consultants' lattes
on required road improvements for Route 2 because of the damage that will
be caused. (Check
out our Cadman, Gold Bar EIS Page.)
A CLOSE-UP of the proposed truck bypass.