Tag Archives: Burley

Tree on a phone wire got quick action

The in basket: Carolie Graddon wrote Monday to say, “On the Bethel-Burley Road, about 2/10 of a mile south of the Burley Store, there is a large evergreen tree leaning over the road at a nearly 45-degree angle.  It is leaning on/dragging down power lines and someone has put up caution tape hanging from the lines.  This looks like a dangerous situation as the tree looks ready to fall across the road at any moment.”

Later in the day, she wrote, “Never mind!  I drove by there this afternoon and a company called North Sky was taking the tree down.”

The out basket: Between her e-mails I had inquired of Kitsap County Public Works and their spokesman Doug Bear, though I wasn’t sure the tree in question wasn’t in Pierce County, and Doug said, “The tree is on a telephone line. County crews do not cut trees entangled in wires. Century Tel (the utility responsible for the line) is sending a crew today to cut the tree off the line. County road crews will be standing by to clear the roadway.”

I must assume North Sky is a Century Tel contractor comparable to Potelco for Puget Sound Energy.

Pavement losing its color at Burley-Olalla

The in basket: As I drove north on Highway 16 past the new Burley-Olalla Road interchange recently, i thought the wheel paths in the pavement had lost more of their black coloration than I would have expected. The asphalt looked more like what I see on aging parts of I-5, but without the obvious rutting and the loud tire noise. 

I asked if the asphalt wasn’t wearing well.

The out basket: The project engineer for the interchange project, Brenden Clarke, says the loss of color is normal.

“It is typical for asphalt pavement to fade to gray in about nine months,” he said. “The pavement is actually wearing well.”