It’s construction time
By Larry Meyer - Argus Observer
Sunday, April 22, 2007 1:03 AM PDT
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| Southeast 13th Street is closed to through traffic at East Idaho Avenue while a Mid Valley Construction crew completes a new route via Goodfellow and Southeast First Avenue. |
ONTARIO - The Oregon Highway 201 overpass at the North Ontario Interchange was closed Friday much earlier than the Oregon Department of Transportation had intended when an eastbound oversized load struck it on Interstate 84, but it was reopened by Saturday.
“The bridge was structurally damaged and has closed to all Oregon Highway 201 traffic,” Tom Strandberg, ODOT public affairs officer, said in a statement Friday. Oregon State Police confirmed the load being hauled was a base for a windmill.
Westbound lanes on I-84 remained open, but eastbound traffic was rerouted over the eastbound freeway exit and entrance lanes at the interchange. The time for the bridge’s reopening was not available.
Ironically, construction work is underway to replace the North Ontario Interchange, a project which includes construction of a new overpass and removal of the old one — the one that was damaged.
Also closed last week was Southeast 13th Street, from its intersection with Goodfellow and East Idaho Avenue. Mid Valley Construction is completing a new connection from East Idaho to Southeast 13th, via an extension of Goodfellow to Southeast First Avenue, which runs along the north side of the ODOT office, between Goodfellow and Southeast 13th.
Arrangements have not been made to push Goodfellow all the way through to Southeast Fifth Avenue, Tom Frazier, general manager of Mid Valley Construction, said.
“The city is working on that,” he said.
The curved segment of Southeast 13th is now permanently closed and will provide room for the new Walgreens, Frazier said.
The street project is expected to be completed May 3.
While it was the last of the ODOT projects to get started in the local area, the repaving of Highway 201 will be the first to be completed — in about two weeks or so, Paul Woodworth, ODOT project manager said. Work includes grinding out the old asphalt and replacing it with new.
“A certain percentage of (the old material) goes right back into the project,” he said. “The rest is being stockpiled for the maintenance crew.”
About 20 to 30 percent of the old material is recycled into new material, he said.
At the intersection of Oregon Highway 201 and Southwest 18th Avenue, the traffic sign has been switched to an automatic timer for three weeks while the signal loops imbedded in the pavement are replaced, Strandberg said.
That means motorists may have to wait longer than normal for the light to change.
