Road plan underway
Saturday, March 17, 2007 11:46 PM PDT
Larry Meyer Argus Observer
ONTARIO
State, county and city officials recently settled on the route they plan to improve for truck traffic going to and from the proposed bio-refinery site south of Ontario.
The agreement on a route now allows officials to seek funding for the improvement project.
Rena Cusma, Oregon Department of Transportation Southeast Area Manager, said while the full scope of the project has yet to be determined, it will follow streets designated as freight routes in city and county transportation plans.
The project will include Southeast Second Street, from Idaho Avenue to 18th Avenue, 18th Avenue over the bridge to Alameda Drive, down Alameda to the site near the intersection of Railroad Avenue. Cusma said the group meeting this week to further fine tune the improvement plans.
An application to obtain funding from the Oregon Transportation Investment Act is due in by March 1. The money — generated from state bonds covered by increased license fees paid by Oregon motorists and truckers — would come from a fund set aside for the purpose of improving access to industrial lands.
While there is not a requirement to provide local matching funds, Cusma said it is important some type of match be provided to make applications more competitive. However, she explained it does not necessarily have to come from local government sources.
Upon looking at other applications, Cusma said the match can be the developments themselves, such as the bio-refinery or the building of the railroad spur into the site. There could also be some kind of in-kind match from the government agencies but what it would be has yet to be determined, she said.
Two other routes proposed for the project were Railroad Avenue and Onion Avenue, but neither will be included in the plan.
Cusma said Railroad Avenue will be included in a study of Oregon Highway 201 from Airport Corner, which will look particularly at the intersection of the two routes. Because of the proximity of the railroad along with an irrigation system and a home to the intersection, improving Railroad Avenue would be too complicated to be including in this project.
“It is not an easy problem to fix,” Cusma said of the intersection. As for Onion Avenue, at this point in time is not being suggested as an alternative route.
Larry Meyer is a reporter for the Argus Observer. He can be contacted at (541) 889-5387, or by e-mail, LarryM@argusobserver.com.
