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October 29 2017 Vol. II • No. 22
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ODOT Spends $38.2M to Make Improvements in Tillamook By Lori Tobias CEG CORRESPONDENT
ODOT photo
The old hotel was purchased through right of way acquisition and then demolished.
The city of Tillamook, Ore., has had traffic problems for years. The highway through downtown was much too tight to accommodate the semi-trucks and RVs that routinely rumble through, pedestrians felt unsafe crossing the streets and the intersection of Highway 101 and Oregon 6 was described as “one of the most convoluted in the region.” “I’ve had people describe it as white knuckles through there,” said Louis Torres, spokesman of the Oregon Department of Transportation. “Do I go straight? Right? Do I bear left? There was a lot of signage and it was really confusing. When they built that road through there I don’t think anyone envisioned we would have so many large trucks and large SUVs. It got very tight and very confined. It was very difficult to cross the streets. It was kind of intimidating to be honest.” Now, a $38.2 million project will not only fix the problematic roads, but revitalize a once thriving, long since declining downtown. “I think it’s going to pay off huge dividends for the county,” Torres said. “There will be new sidewalks, a new plaza, new crosswalks. The governor was out there and she hit it right on the nose when she said it’s a huge boost to the county. It’s just going to contribute heavily to the revitalization Tillamook has been waiting for.” Tillamook Area Chamber of Commerce photo While the project will The year 2016, which was the year crews most assuredly give the little began excavating, saw record rainfalls and Tillamook Area Chamber of Commerce photo downtown the facelift it’s revealed far more hazardous material than Keeping traffic moving and businesses open to customers long needed, the key compo- anticipated. were not the only hurdles ODOT had to overcome.
nents of the project are really about safety — for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists alike. Now, two-thirds complete the project includes two new bridges, a widened roadway, bubble crosswalks and trails for pedestrians and cyclists linking to a nearby park. Funded in large part by the Jobs and Transportation Act passed in 2009, the project got under way in 2015 and is expected to be completed in the fall of 2018. In order to rework the 101/6 intersection, crews had to separate traffic, which meant demolishing two old bridges and replacing them with two new bridges and a new road that will connect to Highway 101. The new bridges will be higher than the old bridges, which ODOT hopes may alleviate some of the flooding in the area Tillamook is noted for. “We just finished the east side bridge and now have traffic going over that bridge north and south,” Torres said. “Now that we have traffic operating on the new bridge, we will demolish the bridge to the west and build a new one there. We will have two lanes on both bridges eventually.” Originally, projected to be a two-year project, it was necessary to extend it by a year to avoid road closures during the peak tourist season. “We made a commitment with the city that we would not close any lanes in the summer and if we did it would be during nonpeak season times,” Torres said. “That means if you can’t close lanes, the project will take longer. That’s what the community wanted and we are making it work. The economic development side is a really see ODOT page 10