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School is set to open in Morgan Hill Thursday, Aug. 18. West
Dunne Avenue to Peak Avenue has been closed to traffic for about a
month. I thought the street was only going to be closed for a week
in July. What happened?
”
“School is set to open in Morgan Hill Thursday, Aug. 18. West Dunne Avenue to Peak Avenue has been closed to traffic for about a month. There are several schools that are in that area and many people use West Dunne to Peak to get to their destination by 8 a.m. When will West Dunne Avenue re-open to traffic? I’m not a fan of using downtown in the morning as a detour. I thought the street was only going to be closed for a week in July. What happened?”
Red Phone: Dear What Happened, Red Phone contacted Julie Behzad, a senior civil engineer with the city. She said at this time West Dunne Avenue is scheduled to be back open to through traffic beginning Aug. 22. The original road closure began July 13 and was planned to be closed for a total of nine weeks, she added. One week for phase 1 (Monterey Road to Del Monte Avenue); three weeks for phase 2 (Del Monte Avenue to Barnell Avenue); and five weeks for phase 3 (Barnell Avenue to Peak Avenue).
“Our contractor has been working 50 hours per week for the past four weeks on these phases to expedite the work thus minimizing the closure of Dunne Avenue to through traffic and open the road as soon as possible,” Behzad said. “As a result of these efforts, it has taken about seven weeks to complete the road closure portion of this work, two weeks fewer than anticipated.”
There you have it, good caller. West Dunne Avenue should reopen the Monday after school starts the previous Thursday, meaning the traffic disruptions should last just two days.
No uniforms for postal workers?
“Dear Red Phone, I was in the Post Office in Morgan Hill the other day and noticed employees were not wearing uniforms and looked rather tacky. Don’t they have to wear uniforms?”
Red Phone: Dear Disgusted With Tacky, Red Phone visited the Morgan Hill Post Office three times in the past two weeks, and each time employees were wearing blue shirts. Perhaps it was a casual Friday? Anyway, the United States Postal Service is facing larger problems.
The Postal Service, which predicts a $9 billion loss this year, may ask Congress for permission to close post offices and eliminate Saturday delivery to stem losses as more people use the Internet to correspond, receive publications and pay bills.
The service said in July it could save $200 million a year by closing about 12 percent of its almost 32,000 post offices, and has already cut work hours 3.1 percent, or 9.2 million hours, in the quarter, including through the retirement of 1,850 administrative employees. And, they are thinking of eliminating a day of service.
Hope that answers your question, good caller.
