Moving Ahead Spring/Summer 2019

A Mail Tribune Advertising Department publication

ODOT

May

2019

17

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Work Zone Safety

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Caveman Bridge

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OR 140 Roundabout

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Siskiyou Rest Area

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I-5 CA Border Paving

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Editor's Note ABOUT ROUNDABOUTS Many of us have driven through a roundabout. But how about a highway-style roundabout, which is larger than one you might find in a city? We’re planning to construct one next summer at Oregon 140 when Jackson County builds its Foothill Road extension across the highway to Atlantic Avenue.

Our cover shows how freight trucks of different sizes can maneuver the one we're planning. The images are from a stationary drone that tracked their movements during a roundabout rodeo in March.

We hope you keep an open mind on these life-saving intersection treatments. Both Washington and California use them where appropriate. Oregon has five highway roundabouts.

Traffic engineers find that installing signals—which have their place—on

high-speed rural intersections nearly guarantees serious injury crashes and fatalities. Roundabouts in the same setting save lives by slowing traffic so critical injury rear-end and T-bone crashes are nearly eliminated.

Speeds through the roundabouts are 20-25 MPH. Drivers must still yield to the traffic inside the roundabout.

Roundabouts slow traffic but keep traffic moving for the most part.

When traffic is moving, you’re saving time and gas money. Emissions are reduced, too.

We’re just starting our education efforts on the Oregon 140 roundabout. Help us get the word out about this different but safer intersection tool.

CONTRIBUTORS EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Jaren Hobson Graphic Design

Gary Leaming 541-774-6388 gary.w.leaming@odot.state.or.us

Steve Johnson Photography

ADVERTISING

Brian Fitz-Gerald Illustration

Bill Krumpeck 541-776-4416 bkrumpeck@rosebudmedia.com

Shelley Snow, Charles Duncan Editing

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This feature publication is produced separately from the Mail Tribune’s editorial department.

All content is developed and approved by the Oregon Department of Transportation.

ODOT is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer committed to a diverse workforce.

Accommodations will be provided to persons with disabilities; alternate formats are available upon request.

Work Zone Safety

by Josh Rapp, Project Manager for Knife River Materials, Central Point

WE'RE ALL IN THIS

TOGETHER

Even though the calendar may show spring, road construction takes place year-round — and so do crashes inside the work zone.

Each year in Oregon, there are nearly 500 accidents in work zones. Each year, an average of five people are killed in those accidents. That is a tragedy we have witnessed firsthand, and we would like to partner with you so no one is in that position again.

Like you, the Knife River team wants everyone to get home safely each day.

The three main causes of work-zone crashes are inattention, speed and driving too fast. Each of those things are preventable.

Day and night, depending on the project, my teammates and I are on the side of the road – or in the middle of a lane closure, working on projects to improve our valley.

Throughout my life, I’ve been in several hostile places. I served as an Infantry Officer in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Though the environment is much different here in our beautiful state, my teammates and I are still working in a dangerous place. Currently, we are working alongside the I-5 off-ramp at Exit 33 in Central Point.

Although our crew tries to keep our work area safe, the situation is dynamic and constantly changing with each passing vehicle. Is the next driver drunk? Distracted? Sleepy? At highway speeds, things happen fast.

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Work Zone Safety story continued from page 5

We wear our high-visibility vests to be seen. Unlike the vests our soldiers wear in Iraq and Afghanistan that are designed to mitigate the threat of a projectile, no safety vest is designed to take the impact of a vehicle.

We understand that things happen in the work zone. One time I noticed a sedan driving in our work zone on a berm of dirt. When I arrived, the two passengers said their phone’s mapping app showed the berm as the way to a nearby winery. Surprisingly, they chose to obey the phone and not the warnings of the work zone

construction color. Typically, law enforcement is nearby. Work-zone fines double—whether work is going on or not—as a reminder work zones are serious places.

Like you, I live here. I’m married and have four kids. They’re active in sports. I’m active in the community.

Even though I have been stationed many places across the US and overseas, I chose to return to my beloved valley where I was raised.

My family loves to hike and travel around southern Oregon when we can. My roots are planted here and so

“ Unlike the vests our soldiers wear

in Iraq and Afghanistan that are designed to mitigate the threat of a projectile, no safety vest is designed to take the impact of a vehicle.

— Joshua Rapp Project Manager, Knife River Materials

signs, cones and barrels. This type of dangerous situation can be avoided by driving the posted speed limit and paying careful attention to work zone safety signs and devices.

Not only are construction workers at risk, but crashes in work zones also kill and hurt motorists and their passengers. When you see the markings of a highway work zone, please pay attention and slow down. Orange is a universal road

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”

are those of my co-workers at Knife River, the staff of other construction companies and our ODOT partners.

Please remember, the people under the hardhats and behind the vests are hard-working, caring members of our community who show up each day or night to give it their best. It’s our responsibility, both as workers and the public, to ensure that everyone is safe.

At the end of the day, we’re all in this together!

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Caveman Bridge A May 3 ceremony rededicated the iconic Caveman Bridge and confirmed its importance to Grants Pass and as a tourism connection to the Oregon Caves and the Redwoods.

“It’s notable when a community takes an image of a bridge and makes it part of its logo,” said ODOT Historian Chris Bell at the late morning ceremony. “That tells me this structure is very much a part of the DNA of Grants Pass and its people, who often see themselves in that bridge.”

For the past 18 months, the bridge has been under repair, the first comprehensive overhaul of the bridge since it first opened in 1931.

Repairs included a structural strengthening, a complete cleaning, repair of the defective concrete, replacement of the Art Deco bridge rail and new period lighting. Several 1950s style ‘Cobra’ lights that had been added to the bridge were also removed.

story continued on page 8

Larry Nicholson, Agent 1380 Biddle Rd, Ste B Medford, OR 97504 larry@larrynicholson.com Bus: 541-772-3233 MF-00108590

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Caveman Bridge

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“The bridge has what I consider the big three hallmarks of a great Conde McCullough bridge,” said Bell, of the noted Oregon bridge designer.

“The first is a solution uniquely situated to its location. McCullough always sought to maximize design efficiency. And given he could spring arches from the river, he elected for this particular design. He also sought to heighten its visual success using a rail type rarely seen elsewhere in Oregon,” said Bell.

The other notable example of that bridge rail, said Bell, is Cape Creek Bridge near Florence on U.S. 101.

Bell also worked with the city of Grants Pass on the refurbishing of the historic Redwood Empire sign.

The sign sits at the north end of the bridge and for decades acted as a

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northern gateway to the Redwoods and northern California coastline.

The sign, which was refurbished by a Eugene area company, was unveiled as part of the community celebration.

Although the original sign had been changed over the years, the refurbished sign stayed nearly true to the times when the sign was lit.

In a ‘then and now’ moment, a historic photo of a mother and daughter on vacation in their late 1930s sedan was replicated as part of the May 3 ceremony.

Also acknowledged at the ceremony was contractor HP Civil, which refurbished the bridge and was able to keep the bridge open to at least a single lane for nearly the entire duration of the $5.3 million rehabilitation project.

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Rogue Valley Expressway

The Rogue Valley Expressway opened to traffic May 1, saving motorists about five minutes in travel time through the corridor between Medford and White City as compared to the existing highway.

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80 years of leadership

BUILDING THE FUTURE YOU DEPEND ON

Thanks Southern Oregon residents and visitors for being a great partner in 2018!

Wow, it has been a busy year with finishing up the new Highway 62 Expressway, major paving contracts, and plenty of private and commercial work. We want to thank you for your willingness to take a few more minutes to get to places. Truth is, building the future depends on everyone willing to be inconvenienced just a bit. Our employees thank you for keeping them safe and productive this year.

If you want the best for you and the environment, give Knife River Materials a call today.

541-770-2960 MF-00107822

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Rogue Valley Expressway story continued from page 9

The $120 million project, funded mostly through the 2009 Oregon Jobs and Transportation Act, is designed to improve safety and reduce congestion through the busy 4.5 mile corridor between Interstate 5 Exit 30 and the White City area.

The old adage of ‘time is money’ is true even on the expressway.

For example, savings of about five minutes each way for freight operators, spread out over a year, adds up to more than $300,000 in savings, said Troy Hutchens of FV Martin Trucking.

Hutchens said his 85 truckloads a day that are currently using Table Rock Road to travel between the Boise Cascade mills in White City and north Medford will use the expressway exclusively. The savings will be nearly a thousand dollars a day.

For the 30 percent of traffic that is just trying to get through the corridor, that will be a substantial savings in time, fuel and emissions.

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The expressway idea dates to the late 1990s when conceptual designs began for refurbishing north Medford Interchange, Exit 30. In 2004, project teams first met to begin work narrowing roadway designs that would be evaluated in an Environmental Impact Statement. No construction funding was identified for the project until 2009 with the passage of the Oregon Jobs and Transportation Act. Construction began on what became known as the JTA portion in May 2016, with major construction finishing earlier this year.

Design, right of way or construction dollars on future expressway phases are not identified.

“This is the biggest project in Jackson County since the interstate was constructed,” said ODOT Area Manager Art Anderson. “It took a lot of time and effort by local leaders, including our legislators, to get this project off the ground and bring the much needed improvements to the Rogue Valley.”

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Empower the Possible 2019

Nearly 1,500 high school students, veterans and active military from throughout southern Oregon are expected for a full-day, hands-on experience at the second Southern Oregon Trade Careers Expo, September 26 in Canyonville.

“This is an excellent opportunity to expose those targeted groups to the living wage opportunities available in the southern Oregon construction and utility trades,” said ODOT Regional Workforce and Civil Rights Specialist Christie Meacham. ODOT is one of several sponsors for the “Empower the Possible” event.

The morning session will include high school students from throughout southern Oregon. The afternoon session is designed for veterans and active duty military personnel and referrals from public/private agencies.

“To have everything at that one venue (in 2017) was a great opportunity.

And by far, it was one of the best trade fairs I’ve been to since I’ve been odotmovingahead.com

teaching,” said Kirstie Christopherson, North Medford High School Career and Technical Education teacher.

In 2017, more than 770 students, 66 exhibitors and nearly 100 job seeking veterans and disadvantaged youth attended from Jackson, Josephine and Douglas Counties. This year participants will include students from Coos, Curry and Klamath Counties.

“The success from 2017 certainly got my attention,” said Curry County Commissioner Chris Paasch. “Veteran agencies, including the Oregon Department of Veteran Affairs, look forward to matching veterans and career military with career opportunities found at the SOTCE.

SOTCE Website: www.empowerthepossible.org

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Oregon 140 Roundabout

A planned upgrade to an important Jackson County road will also see the construction of the first highway-style roundabout in southern Oregon.

Next year, Jackson County will extend Foothill Road north, across Corey Road, and align it with Atlantic Avenue on the north side of Oregon 140. The tie-in to Lake of the Woods Highway, east of White City, will be a roundabout. Its island area is 180 feet in diameter—or half the length of a football field.

“This is a project ODOT and Jackson County are doing together,” said Jackson County Roads and Parks Director John Vial. “We’re punching Foothill Road through and ODOT is connecting to the highway with a roundabout.”

So why a roundabout and not a traffic signal?

“We get a lot of comments about ‘just putting in a signal,’” said ODOT Traffic Standards Engineer Kevin Haas.

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“But when we make data driven safety decisions and look at the historical data, on average, about half the crashes at signalized intersections involve injuries and fatalities.

“And the reason we propose roundabouts is they nearly eliminate all fatal and serious injury crashes.”

Federal Highway Administration data support Haas’ statement. It shows roundabouts improve safety by reducing all fatal and serious injury crashes. They also reduce delays and emissions.

Roundabout Design In designing a roundabout, engineers install visual clues for drivers so they recognize the change ahead. In addition to signs for the drivers to notice, they design a horizontal curve which will gradually slow traffic, along with the addition of drainage features.

Once at the roundabout, traffic has slowed to about 30 MPH. Drivers are required to yield to vehicles in the roundabout before entering it. odotmovingahead.com

“We do geometric design changes to lower speeds even in rural areas.

We bring those speeds down so that any crashes that do happen are low severity crashes,” said Haas. “They really are the only tool we have for at-grade intersections that effectively reduce or eliminate fatal and serious injury crashes.”

Foothill Road extension The project will also be one of a series of updates to Foothill Road, a roadway that dates back to the early days of Jackson County. When completed, the Foothill Road extension will create a continuous route traversing the east side of the Rogue Valley between Phoenix and White City. The combination of Foothill and North Phoenix Roads traverse the east side of the Rogue Valley between Phoenix and White City. The half mile Foothill Road connection project is estimated at $2.5 million. Under the Jackson County Transportation System Plan,

eventually the Foothill to Atlantic Avenue connection will connect to East Dutton Road and Oregon 62.

The nearby Oregon 140/Kershaw Road intersection – the scene of many crashes including several fatal ones – will be modified. Once the new roundabout is in operation, traffic will be prohibited from crossing the highway on Kershaw Road. Instead, the intersection will be modified to a right-in, right-out, leftin configuration.

Roundabout Rodeo Before the siting of other roundabouts in Oregon, a roundabout test course, or rodeo, is held. It shows drivers they can maneuver well through the roundabouts. Trucks of all types test drive it. Courses are laid out using cones and sandbags and allowances for off tracking onto the apron of the roundabout.

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Oregon 140 at Foothill Improvements

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Atlantic Avenue SPEED

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Kershaw Road

Corey Road

Foothill Road

NEW FOOTHILL ROAD EXPANSION The new roundabout at Oregon 140 and Foothill Road will enhance safety and keep traffic moving. When open, it will be the sixth roundabout on an Oregon highway.

The roundabout will open to traffic once Jackson County’s new Foothill Road extension to Atlantic Avenue is complete. For traffic bound for Eagle Point and Oregon 140, it will be a safer, more efficient option.

The existing Kershaw Road intersection will be changed to eliminate the Oregon 140 crossing. It will be modified to right in, right out and left in.

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Oregon 140 Roundabout story continued from page 13

The idea is to show how the course is designed to accept all loads on the highway system, even oversized loads.

In March, 10 different vehicles converged at the Boise Cascade mill site in north Medford.

The vehicles, ranging from a school bus to the largest trucks on the road, navigated a test course of the Oregon 140 roundabout.

A veteran truck driver, one of several who drove the March course, was impressed.

‘It’s plenty fine. It’s got good turns in it. Not real sharp. I think it’s just right,’ said 30-year truck driver Bill Bronson of Wilson Equipment in White City who navigated a fully-loaded 10 axle lowboy through the course.

The $3.75 million roundabout project bids in the spring of 2020 with construction later that summer.

Jackson County and ODOT will host a drop-in open house on the projects on June 4 between 4 and 6:30 p.m. at the White City-Jackson County Library, 3143 Avenue C. For more on the project visit: www.oregon.gov/ODOT/Projects

Scan code to check out the Roundabout Test Course on YouTube www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kyenfyx_g0o

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Siskiyou Rest Area

Just in time for summer, the I-5 Siskiyou Safety Rest Area and Welcome Center is set to welcome visitors.

Its opening marks a milestone more than 20 years in the making. It’s taken that long to go through the journey of finding the site and conduct the comprehensive planning efforts, including lengthy hearings

and appeals and conditions, as well as construction to get to the opening. “This has been a long and heavy lift to get this facility open and allow visitors to enter a modern rest area and welcome center,� said ODOT Area Manager Art Anderson.

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Siskiyou Rest Area story continued from page 17

Travel Oregon and chambers of commerce statewide have been looking forward to the welcome center portion of the facility, especially for those first-time travelers who stop by the center.

ODOT closed the old rest area in 1997 for public safety, following a series of commercial truck crashes within the small rest area located on the Siskiyou Pass grade, about two miles south of the new location. Since the closure, ODOT has been under Federal Highway Administration scrutiny to replace the old rest area for weary travelers coming off the Siskiyou Summit.This new $12 million

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rest area and welcome center features a northwest-inspired fire lookout between the restrooms and the welcome center. The center will be an information hub for travelers and a welcome oasis into the state staffed

by Travel Oregon. It will also house an office for Oregon State Troopers working the summit.

Commercial vehicles over 20,000 lb Gross Vehicle Weight will be prohibited from using the facility. They will be directed instead to the Ashland I-5 Port of Entry, six miles north. “This new facility will help enhance and inspire the journey of those visiting our state for the first time,� said Travel Oregon CEO Todd Davidson.

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I-5 Viaduct Retrofit The next generation Medford Viaduct may include wider, safer shoulders and a more stable foundation. That’s the recommendation of a multi-year I-5 Medford Viaduct Planning and Environmental Study.

“There is no funding identified for construction,” said ODOT Planner Lisa Cornutt, who briefed the Medford City Council on the study last month. “And the next step is to search for the funding—about $85 million—which we hope we’ll secure in the next decade.”

The multi-year study looked at rerouting Interstate 5 or replacing the nearly 60 yearold structure, but the consultant and local teams soon looked at the more feasible – and financially reasonable – retrofit of the bridge.

The nearly half-mile long bridge that runs through Medford and east of downtown carries more than 51,000 vehicles a day. It’s not only a main connector for Medford and Rogue Valley traffic, it’s also a critical northsouth freight route for the West Coast.

Operational problems When opened in 1962, the viaduct carried far less traffic than today, even in the summer. It was built with two 12-foot travel lanes in each direction.

Shoulders were three feet wide, not enough for a stopped vehicle in an emergency. Guardrail, not concrete barrier, separated the travel lanes.

Surprisingly, the crash rate is higher on either side of the viaduct than on the structure itself. Traffic engineers attribute that to drivers being their best—and not passing—while on the bridge. Yet it’s not without its problems.

“Given the increased growth in Medford and along the I-5 corridor, we’re looking forward to identifying a funding source for further design and construction of this project,” said ODOT District Manager Jerry Marmon.

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I-5 Viaduct Retrofit story continued from page 19

Recommendations

Seismic Hazards

Under the study’s recommendation, the viaduct would be widened to the east by 28 feet, thus avoiding properties and Bear Creek to the west.

A new vertical support would be built.

The other portion of the study looked at retrofitting the existing viaduct footings by widening and strengthening. The concern is a strong subduction zone earthquake, in which the entire viaduct could simply tip over.

When complete, the viaduct would continue to have 12-foot travel lanes, but emergency shoulders on the right would be 12 feet wide. Inside shoulders would be eight feet wide.

Future widening of the interstate through Medford to three lanes could see the viaduct widened, too, by restriping the structure. Travel lanes would be narrowed by 1 foot and allow the emergency shoulder to narrow to 8 feet.

The initial analysis showed the existing soils at the viaduct would require a greater level of design to withstand a greater level of shaking during a seismic event. Additional analysis would be needed for that portion of the project, according to the study.

To read the entire project summary and recommendations, go to: www.medfordviaduct.org.

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I-5 CA-Ashland Border Paving

ODOT Maintenance Manager Everett Carroll has witnessed the good and bad on Interstate 5, south of Ashland.

The snow-covered interstate between the California border and Ashland keeps his crews busy in the winter.

In the summer, the bare surface reveals the roadway defects of exposed steel reinforcing bars on the six-inch concrete roadbed. Rutting from decades of chains and studs have exposed the rebar, crumbled the concrete and created holes of varying sizes in the roadway surface. Carroll is concerned about the aging roadway.

“We don’t want to lose the whole thing,” said Carroll.

That’s about to change. Work gets underway this year – the first of three summers – on Interstate 5 between the California border and Ashland Exit 11. The work includes

“diamond grinding” or leveling the existing rutted concrete surface and rehabilitating damaged concrete pavement. In some locations that means repairing or replacing the panels and a complete deck replacement on the twin bridges over Old Siskiyou Highway at Exit 6.

Guardrail upgrades are also part of the project.

“The concrete installed in the late 1980s has stood the test, but needed work is too complex for our crews– a larger project is needed,” said Carroll.

The original I-5 road surface was asphalt when the Siskiyou Summit section opened in 1966.

“This repair on the Siskiyous has been high on our list,” said ODOT Maintenance Manager Jerry Marmon.

“To do the scale and scope of this project will mean a better and safer interstate.”

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I-5 CA-Ashland Border Paving story continued from page 19

To repair the concrete in sections, there will be single lane closures and crossovers to isolate the construction workers and equipment from the traffic. Drivers should expect slow moving traffic and possible back-ups, especially during holiday weekends and on the climb up to Siskiyou Summit.

Because the location is in a snow zone—with Siskiyou Summit at 4,310 feet—construction timelines are limited to the late spring through the fall.

Deck Replacements While staging will be challenging with the roadway repairs, it will become even more so in the final two years of the project with the full deck replacement of the twin bridges over Old Siskiyou Highway at Exit 6.

the construction. In addition, the crossing under the bridges will be closed for a short time. That will result in out-of-direction travel for residents living on both sides of Interstate 5. Residents east of the interstate may have to use Old Siskiyou Highway down to Oregon 66 for a time. For those on the west side of the interstate, it may include a trip to Hilt, California and back north toward Ashland.

“We realize this will mean delays and out-of-direction travel for a time,” said Hunter. “For the first major project of its type in 33 years, we’re asking for understanding as we do the needed work.”

Like previous deck projects, traffic will be shifted onto one bridge while the other is being rehabilitated. On the bridge being worked on, the entire bridge deck surface will be replaced, except for the bridge beams that support the deck. The second year, the other bridge will be under construction.

“Project staging and keeping everyone connected will be challenge,” said Project Manager Chris Hunter.

“Interstate traffic will need to be slowed, especially those trucks coming down the grade at the crossover. At the same time, a single lane of traffic for trucks going up the grade will mean some back-ups.”

Depending on the stage, Exit 6 ramps will be closed to facilitate

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Grants Pass Improvements

Several 6th and 7th Street intersections in Grants Pass will be upgraded for pedestrian safety next year.

The locations have been the scene of at least one crash involving a pedestrian and vehicle. The $2.2 million project is funded by the federal All Roads Transportation Safety program, which specifically targets problem intersections.

“Without these funds, we couldn’t do these upgrades to the Grants Pass system,” said Project Leader Dan Roberts. “These particular intersections, part of Oregon 99, have been identified with a crash history and are in need of repair. At the same time, we’re taking care of the ADA requirements.”

The main work will include ramp upgrades to meet the Americans with Disabilities Act, enhanced pedestrian signing and additional crosswalk markings. Three intersections will receive ”bulb outs,” where the sidewalk will extend out for increased visibility for pedestrians and for vehicles.

“The "bulb outs" at 6th and Steiger and 6th and B Streets are needed because 6th has different widths at those locations. That makes it tough for pedestrians to see and be seen,” said Roberts. A “bulb out”’ is planned for only the south side of 6th and NW Midland.

The intersections of 7th and School and Steiger will also be improved.

Further north, the project will improve the 6th and Morgan intersection. It’s been the site of numerous crashes between Exit 58 southbound off-ramp and Scoville Road traffic.

“The off-set signals are an unusual design that catches those out of the area off guard,” said Roberts.

“We’re going to improve that entire intersection.”

The 6th and Morgan portion will include new signals, ADA ramps, striping and signs along with a center barrier with glare shields between the off-ramp and Scoville Road.

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Project Shorts

NEW BRIDGE RAILS A safety rail upgrade on two Rogue Valley bridges is nearly complete. Contractor Conway Construction Company spent much of the late winter and early spring upgrading the bridge rail and deck on Oregon 140 over Little Butte Creek Bridge at Brownsboro.

The second bridge rail upgrade is scheduled for early next month on the 1954-era Jackson Creek culvert on Oregon 238/Hanley Road between Rossanley and West Main Streets. Due to the narrow roadway, a five-day detour will be in effect for the Hanley Road bridge rail replacement. Local traffic will remain open for Hanley Farms and the OSU Extension Service.

I-5 VIADUCT The northbound lanes of the I-5 Medford Viaduct will be cleaned, repaired and given a new epoxy coating this summer, similar to what was done on the southbound lanes last summer.

Time ran out on contractor Carter and Company last year after they completed repairs of the viaduct’s southbound lanes and the Barnett Road I-5 overpass.

Drivers can expect single lane traffic and lower speeds during the nighttime hours.

OREGON 62 CHIP SEAL An Oregon 62 chip seal project, canceled by wildfire safety concerns last summer, is back on the calendar. June 15 is the scheduled start of the chip seal between Trail and Casey State Park.

Chip seals are performed, at a relatively low cost, on asphalt pavement to extend the life of the road surface. As the name implies, rock chips are sealed into the roadway surface. It begins with a swept lane of travel which is coated with oil. It is then immediately covered with rock chips. Rubber-tired rollers compact the rock into the oil before traffic is released to drive on it. Traffic at low speed continues to compact the rock into the new road surface. Later, excess rock is swept from the road and a sealant is applied before the new road surface is striped.

The two-week project will be done by Jackson County Roads with ODOT.

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I-5 Exit 33 Off-Ramp

Work is nearly complete on a $700,000 project to improve the northbound I-5 off-ramp at Central Point, Exit 33.

Contractor Knife River Materials is building an additional right turn lane for the ramp which will improve access to east Central Point, the nearby Costco and other interstate businesses. ”The growth trend for this interchange is on the way up and has been for years,” said ODOT Area Manager Jerry Marmon. “Costco, interchange businesses, the airport and trucking terminals all help drive the growth at Exit 33.” odotmovingahead.com

The new Costco and the city of Central Point pitched in $500,000 of the project cost.

For safety, nearly all the work was done behind hard barrier to keep traffic separated from construction.

Driveways to nearby businesses are being kept open during the work that is occurring night and day. No right of way was needed for the project, which is expected to wrap up in time for July’s Jackson County Fair.

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Exit 33 Off-Ramp

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