Last modified: Wednesday, March 19, 2008 12:48 PM PDT U.S. Highway 20-26 will be widened at the intersection of Columbia Avenue (shown here), about a mile north of Nyssa, to accommodate left-turn and right-turn lanes for vehicles turning off the highway onto Columbia. The project is scheduled to take place next year. ODOT project slated By Larry Meyer Argus Observer ONTARIO — Oregon Department of Transportation officials are preparing for the next major construction project in Malheur County that is designed to expand and insert turn lanes on U.S. Highway 20-26 at Columbia Avenue, about a mile north of Nyssa. ODOT staff met with property owners near the project boundaries Tuesday in Ontario to explain the venture — set to begin next year — and the process and steps state agencies and residents must take before construction wraps up. As planned, the highway on each side of Columbia Avenue will be widened to accommodate center left turns lanes, to go east or west off the highway and right-hand turn lanes, while retaining the lanes for through traffic. Guardrails will be installed on the east side along a drain ditch. “We’re still busy working on design,” Leslie Hasse, ODOT right-of-way agent, said. “We have to do the appraisals.” She said she will begin meeting with individual property owners within the next few weeks. There are 23 properties that will be affected by the proposed project, she said. The project will cover about one half of a mile of the highway, Rocky Pietz, who is the ODOT project team leader, said. In addition to giving up some of their property that faces the highway, property owners who have more than one entrance into their properties will be allowed to have only one, he said. There was no opposition expressed about the project, but concerns local residents had included drainage problems, motorists going too fast, having to cross a wider highway to get to mailboxes and school children having to cross additional lanes of traffic after getting off of the school bus. Hasse said she is not sure if anything can be done about the speed if the current limit has been determined to be appropriate for the traffic. About the mailboxes, “The postmaster will have the say where mailboxes are put,” she said.    Regarding the water drainage issue, Hasse said she would discuss the challenge with the individual designing the project. Another pending project in Nyssa, which has been on the docket for at least year, is the renovation of the underpass to include a larger drainage structure to keep the groundwater out, repaving and installation of a new pumping system. However, ODOT has not yet found the funds to pay for the project. “As soon as we have the funding, we will go out to bid,” Pietz said. “We’re ready to go,” he said, commenting the design work has been completed.