by Dixie Shear, Resident Engineer, Jefferson County Highways & Transportion

Beginning Thursday, May 7, 2009, there will be traffic lane changes on Jefferson County Parkway between Weimer Street and the Courts & Administrative Facility entrance at the roundabout. The lane changes should continue for one week, ending May 14.

The County's roadway contractor will have to close the southbound lanes of Jefferson County Parkway from the Delivery Entrance at the rear of the courthouse to the gated driveway used by employees parking under the Courtside Parking Structure. Southbound traffic on Jefferson County Parkway will be shifted to one northbound lane so that there will be one lane in each direction to maintain continuous two-way traffic flow. It is necessary to shift traffic for deep utility excavation on Jefferson County Parkway near the Ballot Drop-off zone during the week and over the weekend.

Access for deliveries, ballot drop off and employee parking will not change. For your safety, only right turns will be allowed from these driveways back on to Jefferson County Parkway.

There will be no change to RTD bus schedules. However, the bus stop will be temporarily shifted about 200 feet south of the current shelter toward the roundabout. The bus stop sign will be relocated to the new pickup point. Riders should plan to leave a few minutes early to meet the bus at the new, temporary location.

The figure below shows the planned lane shifts on Jefferson County Parkway. Johnson Road will remain closed for reconstruction until June 16, 2009.

For further information, please call Dixie Shear at the Jefferson County Division of Highways & Transportation at 303-271-8495. Thank you for your patience during this project.

by Todd Leopold, Administrative Services Director

As hybrid automobiles become more popular, we often get questions about whether Jeffco uses energy-efficient vehicles such as hybrids. The answer is yes. Jeffco currently has ten hybrid vehicles, and we continue to add them to our fleet.

As a county, we support energy-efficient vehicles because of the financial and environmental benefits they provide. In fact, Jeffco has a long tradition of supporting these vehicles. We were an early adopter of hybrid technology (starting back in 2002), and we have worked to integrate them into our fleet as technology and production advancements have been made.

But we aren’t content to sit back and wait for the technology to evolve. Jeffco's Fleet Services division actively works with a variety of truck manufacturers and their engineering divisions, as well as with a hybrid electric system manufacturer, in an effort to improve the technology and expand their use to heavier-duty equipment. We are also working toward being able to serve as the first entity in the country to utilize some of the heavy-duty hybrid technology in a Jefferson County snow plow! Watch for announcements in the coming months.

by Jefferson County Public Health

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reported two additional confirmed cases of H1N1 flu in the state on Sunday, May 3. Both are in Jefferson County. Neither of the newly confirmed patients required hospitalization and are recovering. “The new cases are not unexpected, and do not change the state’s approach to the H1N1 flu outbreak,” said Chief Medical Officer Ned Calonge.

The state currently is awaiting CDC lab confirmation on six additional suspect cases of H1N1 virus. These numbers will continue to change as more specimens are received and evaluated. The four confirmed cases are in the following counties: Arapahoe, Douglas and Jefferson (2).

The new cases are:
>> A middle-school aged male from Jefferson County who recently had traveled to an affected area in the U.S.
>> A male in his 20s from Jefferson County.

“Of the two new confirmed cases both had possible exposure to travelers having visited Mexico or a part of the country where H1N1 is known to be circulating,” said Calonge. “People who experience influenza symptoms should stay home for seven days after onset of symptoms or at least 24 hours after symptoms have resolved, whichever is longer,” said Calonge. “We are working closely with public health officials in the county where these new cases have been confirmed.”

School Closure Guidance
CDC has recommended that affected communities with laboratory-confirmed cases of H1N1 virus infection consider activating school dismissal and childcare closure interventions. These community mitigation interventions are meant to be flexible so that local public health authorities, working with their partners in a given state or community, can use these tools based on the local situation.

School dismissal and childcare closures are an important part of a comprehensive, layered mitigation approach aimed at reducing disease transmission during the 2009 H1N1 virus outbreak in the United States. According to CDC, school districts must work closely and directly with their local and state public health officials to make sound decisions and implement strategies in a coordinated manner.

CDC’s guidance states that goals of these strategies are to slow the spread of the disease in a community to decrease the number of people who get sick from this virus in a given community, thus reducing the “surge” on healthcare systems, and
reduce the total number of people who get ill.
As public health officials in the United States learn more about this emerging virus, CDC will be reviewing these findings on a daily basis and issuing updated guidance.

Protective Measures
The best things for people to do to protect themselves from viruses are:
>> Wash your hands frequently.
>> Cover your sneezes and coughs.
>> Avoid others with respiratory illnesses.
>> Stay home if you are sick.

This is a rapidly evolving situation, and the state health department is asking people to be alert for changes in its guidance as it learns more, available on the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Web page.