THE Road Widening - A Continuing Saga

Yvonne G

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There's probably more than one in there or around the area. Baby turtles come in 12 packs .lol
Yes, but the banks are terribly overgrown and I can't even see any sort of nest hole. Believe me, I look every day.
 

mike taylor

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Yes, but the banks are terribly overgrown and I can't even see any sort of nest hole. Believe me, I look every day.
I know it's been more than a year this has been going on at your place ,but have they even started cutting the road yet? Seems the city of Clovis California moves slow . Here in Texas they said they were going to build a freeway in front of my house and bam a month later they cut right through the woods where I had my tree stand . Then they built a concrete plant right across the street and here it is two years later the freeway goes from my neighborhood all the way to Rosenberg Texas . I live in New Caney Texas so that's more than an hours dive away . These freeway guys out here don't play around .
 

Yvonne G

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Construction is scheduled to start in a couple weeks, but the power co. has to move the poles back first, and that hasn't started yet.
 

Yvonne G

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Well, I received an email from the City engineer asking me if I would be home on Thursday, 11/11 because the Construction foreman would like to come out and have a meeting and get a picture in him mind of what was going on. So I managed to raise myself from a dead sleep at 5:30a to be ready to meet with them at 7:30a. At about 7a I gathered up the prepared tortoise food and trudged out to the back yard. Misty barked at something outside the fence, and I through the pickets I could see a white vehicle parked at the street. I went over to the fence and looked over just in time to see the City truck pull away.

I sat down at my computer and sent the engineer an email telling him that if I cancelled my doctor appointment for Thurs. a.m. only to be stood up by him and the Construction guy I was not going to be a happy camper. He apologized and said the foreman just had a few questions and they were answered so they all left. Sheesh!

So bright and early Friday a.m. (yes, I had to rouse myself early a second day in a row) I was ready for them at 7a, and just puttered around outside so as to not miss them. They all came rolling in about 7:15a, big trucks and earth movers and several cars of workers. . . not for a meeting, but to actually start the job.. They worked all day, quitting about 4p and here's what we got:

A crew came out about a week before and trimmed/cut down the sound barrier trees across the front of the property:

Before
road widening 11-10-21 a.jpg

After:
road widening 11-10-21 b.jpg

And looking through Dudley's yard towards the street from the garage:
road widening 11-11-21 a.jpg

Then looking back towards the garage from the street:
road widening 11-11-21 b.jpg

Oh my cactus! Oh lordy, lordy!!!
road widening 11-11-21 c.jpg

At the end of the day looking from the garage:
road widening 11-12-21 a.jpg

Then from the street:
road widening 11-12-21 b.jpg

My old driveway with the blacktop removed:
road widening 11-12-21 c.jpg

Then at the end of today, the second day looking from the garage (it's not that blurry in real life:
road widening 11-16-21 a.jpg

The garage (and Spencer):
road widening 11-16-21 b.jpg
road widening 11-16-21 c.jpg

The gate posts are in and the earth is all compacted and smoothed, ready for the blacktop. In the last picture it looks like quite a dip, but it's not. It's a gently slope.
 

wellington

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Did they ruin all your cactus or did they just get moved?
Sure hope they stick to what they said they would do and you get everything you are suppose to.
 

Yvonne G

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Did they ruin all your cactus or did they just get moved?
Sure hope they stick to what they said they would do and you get everything you are suppose to.
That lot went to the dump. . . or the "tip," as they say across the pond. ?? But I saved a few of the easier-to-handle ones to re-plant in a different location. I also asked them to carefully pull up a tree size aloe that I'd like to save, and they did, but it's so big and heavy I'll probably have to hire that re-planted.

They are being quite generous with our tax money (the widening project was voted on for us taxpayers to pay for). I'm getting more than the contract calls for.
 

Yvonne G

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Oh man. . . I LOVE MY NEW GATE!!!!!! The next thing they're going to do is brick the sides of the driveway where they had to cut away the earth, after that's done they'll blacktop the whole thing. Then they have some fencing to do and they'll be finished. They're giving me a 3' fence on either side of the driveway for the tortoises. The power company still hasn't moved any of the poles along the street, so the actual road widening hasn't started yet.

road widening 11-17-21 a.jpgroad widening 11-17-21 b.jpg
 

Cathie G

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Oh man. . . I LOVE MY NEW GATE!!!!!! The next thing they're going to do is brick the sides of the driveway where they had to cut away the earth, after that's done they'll blacktop the whole thing. Then they have some fencing to do and they'll be finished. They're giving me a 3' fence on either side of the driveway for the tortoises. The power company still hasn't moved any of the poles along the street, so the actual road widening hasn't started yet.

View attachment 336345View attachment 336346
It looks like it's going to be really nice when it's done. I'm so happy for you. Those men working there probably have a great respect for you and what you do. I know I do and I've not even seen it in person.?
 

Yvonne G

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My sister, Maggie, had these photos on her camera and didn't know where to post them. I thought they should go on this thread. These were taken prior to any construction.

This is the aloe or agave tree that I asked them to gently move out of the way for me. It's about 10' tall:
road widening 10-30-a.jpg

This is one of the barrel cactus and and echinopsis that went to the tip:
road widening 10-30-b.jpg

And this is Maggie's grandson next to a cereus peruvianus monstros that's blooming. He's about 6' tall and you can see the aloe/yucca in the picture's right margin about two feel taller than him:
road widening 10-30-c.jpg

I could just kick myself. I allowed the cacti in the last two pictures to go to the tip without taking any cuttings. The echinopis blooms the most beautiful dark red color and the monstros cereus was the only one of its kind that I had. Darn it anyway!
 

Cathie G

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My sister, Maggie, had these photos on her camera and didn't know where to post them. I thought they should go on this thread. These were taken prior to any construction.

This is the aloe or agave tree that I asked them to gently move out of the way for me. It's about 10' tall:
View attachment 336352

This is one of the barrel cactus and and echinopsis that went to the tip:
View attachment 336353

And this is Maggie's grandson next to a cereus peruvianus monstros that's blooming. He's about 6' tall and you can see the aloe/yucca in the picture's right margin about two feel taller than him:
View attachment 336354

I could just kick myself. I allowed the cacti in the last two pictures to go to the tip without taking any cuttings. The echinopis blooms the most beautiful dark red color and the monstros cereus was the only one of its kind that I had. Darn it anyway!
Maybe all the pieces aren't cleaned up yet... just a thought. Since you can start the spineless prickly pear from dried out parts of it and it's recommended for them. I can't believe that other cactus aren't the same. One can only hope they missed some parts of something.?
 

TaylorTortoise

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Tell me about it. The traffic noise now with only two lanes is so bad you have to be right next to each other to hear each other talk. I'm not looking forward to what it will be like with 6 lanes.
It doesn’t seem like you get that much traffic now with just two lanes. It’s a really busy road?
 

Yvonne G

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Maybe all the pieces aren't cleaned up yet... just a thought. Since you can start the spineless prickly pear from dried out parts of it and it's recommended for them. I can't believe that other cactus aren't the same. One can only hope they missed some parts of something.?
Nope, clean as a whistle out there. The crew were very good at cleaning up at the end of each day.
 

Emmawilly

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Pleased to hear you're having a good result, the gate and path look great. I can imagine how nerve wracking it must have been when the work initially started.
 

Yvonne G

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My driveway portion of the project is almost finished. They'll be coming back Monday to put up the 3' tortoise fence along each side of the driveway. Here are two pictures from inside looking out, then two pictures from outside looking in:

road widening 11-25-21 a.jpgroad widening 11-25-21 b.jpgroad widening 11-25-21 c.jpgroad widening 11-25-21 d.jpg

The job foreman asked me what I was going to do with the big aloe 'tree' that I had them set to the side for me. I told him I was going to replant it at the beginning of the driveway and that I had another one, not quite as big to plant on the other side. He said he'd have his guys plant it for me and where to I want it? So if you look on the left side of the picture at that last cinderblock, right above is a stem, or trunk. Then on the right side of the culvert you'll see the head of the aloe that fell off when they picked up the stem/trunk. They went ahead and planted the trunk anyway. Hopefully it will continue to grow and set a new head. I'll trim the remaining trunk of the part that broke off and plant it somewhere too.
 

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