MASON CITY – The Mason City Council had been warned months before about the trestle on East State Street, which has been without signage indicating the allowable height of vehicles that are able to pass under it.
On Tuesday, a truck was damaged as it attempted to pass under the trestle just east of Carolina Avenue on East State Street.
A Mason City citizen informed NIT today that he predicted an incident would occur, and had contacted City Hall and all six City Council members.
“This email should be of concern to all members of council and not just John Lee my councilperson,” the man wrote in June. “This has to do with signage on State Street going west concerning the railroad trestle. There is a sign for the East bound traffic proclaiming it is only twelve foot high but nothing for the West.
“How would you like to be the semi driver that pulls down there and has to back up almost two blocks when he/she finds out they will not fit under it? And to top it off, without any help from anyone!”
The man’s prediction came true, as a semi-truck and trailer was damaged at the trestle on Tuesday morning.
Another NIT reader wrote us, asking “How much will this lawsuit cost us?”
Another NIT reader said “Here comes another lawsuit, just wait and see.”
Still another NIT reader asked “How many other issues are there in this city that the council ignores and just pawns off on city staff? Do they even try?”
City Engineer Mark Rahm forwarded a reply to the man, which NIT received just this morning. Apparently, the decision to place a height restriction sign at the trestle was left to city staff, and no council person pursued the issue nor followed up on it.
“I was made aware of your concerns in a June 18, 2012 email by way of the City Administrator,” Rahm wrote. “The concern was regarding the lack of signage relating to low clearance of the railroad bridge near Carolina Avenue. The Mason City Engineering Department followed up with your concern, however chose not to post signage at that time due to the soon to begin rehabilitation project on East State Street. The existing signs along the project were removed as the contractor progressed with their work and therefore posting a sign during that reconstruction period would not have been effective.
“Low clearance and supplemental signs were included in the project signing schedule which was bid as part of the original project,” Rahm continued. “The signing contractor is scheduled to post new signs along the project this week. The Iowa One Call was placed several days ago so I expect to see the contractor on site very soon. The new low clearance signs for westbound traffic are scheduled to be installed near Virginia Avenue such that drivers see them well in advance of the bridge and avoid having to back their vehicle down the street. This was an unfortunate incident and the chance of repeating should be rectified when the new signs are installed.”
After reading the comments about MC and the city council in this article and others in the NIT, I think it’s evident why businesess would not want to locate to MC. It’s a city that doesn’t seem to be able to take care of itself, a city council that doesn’t do anything and no one has any respect for, and citizens who enjoy doing lip service to it’s shortcomings, but do nothing actively to correct the problem. Mr. McCourt and Mr. Weaver, I am not referring to either of you. You are both active and vocal, and for that, you have my respect.
Out of curiosity, what should a council member have done other than give it to the proper department in the city for correction? It seems to me like a citizen reported it to them, they passed it through the proper channel and assumed it was fixed. I would blame the department for not following through, not the councilperson.
I agree it is not the councils responsibility to see that it got done. But I would say now that we know nothing got done it is the councils responsibility to discipline Trout for not seeing it got done.
John: Far fetched analogy? Take the blinders off, get a life, and start learning to accept some responsibility.
Citizen??? You compare the failure to replace a street sign with a shooting?! You are obviously the “Lunatic Fringe”.
Yes, I compare the two. They were both “accidents” that could both have been prevented. The young man by checking the chamber before squeezing the trigger, the truck driver by verifying that his rig could fit under the bridge. The person who left the round in the chamber and the city by not putting up a sign are both culpable, but even their error in judgement could have been negated by common sense and common caution.
Hey City!!!!! It’s a simple sign. PUT ONE UP for goodness sake.
Maybe the city can’t afford the signs after buying the downtown statues. Just a thought.
In a town that supports nothing. Blue Zone is our answer to our new business woes….yep yeppity do da
right Blue Zone is our answer…lol/right
Signs SHOULD have been installed before the street was reopened! Fornunately, no one was hurt.
Yes, signs should have been posted. But they weren’t. So what “should” have been done falls a far second to “we are all resposible for our own actions”. When I was investigating an accidental shooting death years ago, all the alleged shooter could say was, “the gun should have been empty”. Guess what? It’s wasn’t. Tragic, yes. But still preventable.
Far fetched analogy. The city is responsible.
sounds like my town. people were firing a pistol within city limits. someone got shot and killed. guess what? the building was owned by a city councilman across the street from the city hall. when they called in for an ambulance, they claimed it was at the bar across the street. conclusion. one dead no charges filed. this is why NIT needs to be with us so the truth can come out.
When I was driving truck, and came to an unmarked bridge, I would gear down and proceed very slow to control my forward motion. Yes, there should have been a sign, and yes, the council knew about it. But common sense and common caution would have gone a long way to have prevented this accident from happening.
I agree with your statement and I think that is exactly what happened in this case. I think he crept under the bridge and then stopped. It was not like it took the truck and trailer apart but there still was a scratch.
If you have a delivery in a residential area you cant bring it down in a wheelbarrow. The guy was just doing his job and did look for a sign. What do you want him to do? People order everything off the internet and someone has to deliver it.
Maybe they can pawn the statues to pay for this.
Where is Max, come the next vote, we all should remember this council that will not respond to the people. I live in the fourth ward and have tried to contact my council several times. no responce
I always wondered why there was not a sign on the trestle itself? One on each side above the road. I know that may be a little late for a haul’n ball’n 18 wheeler, but something is better than nuthin.
I bet our city administrator will tell us that this will not cost the tax-payers anything too. Its time to get rid of him and if we want another to hire a true leader for this community.
I know we can buy a 10,000 statue and place the sign it it’s hand, after a 30,000 study to find out who’s at fault besides the ones who recieved the complaint. We will call it the Yellow Zone project.
More like a Brown Zone.
Why is there a truck on State Street east? Perhaps the City needs to finally establish truck routes (as every other progressive/successfull community has).
We have sufficient routes in the City to serve businesses, without the use of residential streets.
The City also allows drivers to make turns going the wrong way onto one-way streets by default, since there are no signage to advise otherwise. It happens once an hour, if not more.
They are just further examples of problems in the City that are ignored such as code violations and rental defects.
I am reminded over and over again about how people in town want Mason City to grow, produce jobs, and become attractive.
Yet, if the basics are ignored, that just will not happen. No amount of whitewash (such as Blue Zones and silly statues placed in sidewalks) will convince outsiders to invest here with jobs of substance.
Yellow Roadway Corporation delivers freight to residents and businesses.
My question. why was he driving in a residential area in the first place when the highway is just a cuple of blocks away. I’m sure there was a better route for his destination.
The project is not being worked on until spring. Does this mean no sign will be placed there?
I would like to know why any of this surprises anyone. Regarding the council that is.
City Council and our mayor were just to busy trying to find stuff to screw the taxpayers on. Now we will pay for their lack of expertise and dedication. Impeach them all and start over.
Common knowledge is that it takes one phone call from any city councilor to staff and a sign would have been out there at the trestle. The council failed to do this. Staff was negligent here and the council should have steered them in the right direction. The council failed the citizens and if we are sued they should all be expunged from office.
Well we already know one council member jean marinos does zero. When she is not sunning herself on the shores of europe she has her cell phone on auto-forward to city staff so they can make all the decisions. What a calamity for the city her election was.