Archive: Stark Street Bridge Updates

11/27/24: Weekly Look-Ahead

Communication, power, water and gas lines are now either cut out or moved out of the way of the construction work zone so that the contractor can maneuver and complete the repair work safely.
This emergency repair work is on the Historic Columbia River Highway, which is owned and maintained by the Oregon Department of Transportation. In order to move forward with the work, the County is required to get a permit from ODOT to work on the highway. The County is waiting for final approval and is expecting to hear back in the next week.
Once ODOT approves the permit, construction will start. During construction, there will be a round-the-clock single lane closure on the Historic Columbia River Highway near the bridge. Two temporary traffic signals will be set up within a couple hundred feet on either side of the bridge to control the flow of traffic. The single lane reduction will remain in place for the duration of construction. Due to tight space near the repair site, contracting equipment will take up some space in the roadway.
Speed in the work zone will be reduced to 45 miles per hour.

The Oregon Department of Transportation’s state traffic engineer is currently reviewing the project’s traffic control plan. Once that is reviewed, ODOT can approve the permit that allows construction to start.
Utility companies are wrapping up work to move communication and power lines away from the soon-to-be construction site.
The project is in the process of finalizing shoring design to preserve the Historic Columbia River Highway during construction. Shoring is a wall to help keep the highway intact and to keep the workers safe in the excavation. It is required to access the work zone at the end of the bridge. Shoring will have to be in place during excavation for safety and to maintain Historic Columbia River Highway.
The erosion control plan is nearing completion. The contractor will install netting and filter barrier to stop any rolling rock or sediment from getting into the river.

Communication lines are directly above the work area on power poles. Those will need to be raised by the utilities so the contractor equipment will be able to fit underneath them. This work is scheduled to be done by Friday, Nov. 15.
The contractor will begin excavating and removing the existing bridge approach once utilities are moved.
Construction of the bridge approach repairs will begin in the next few weeks.
Due to tight space near the repair site, contracting equipment will take up some space in the roadway. During construction there will be a 24-hour single lane closure on the Historic Columbia River Highway near the bridge. Two temporary traffic signals will be set up within a couple hundred feet on either side of the bridge to control the flow of traffic.

So far, the project team is working with a consultant, utilities companies and a contractor to design the repairs. While the community may not see crews out doing work on the site just yet, the project team is hard at work every day working on those designs.
There’s a lot of work that has to happen behind the scenes before construction, including the drilling work we did in the Historic Columbia River Highway to determine the condition of the material beneath the road that we will be under the newly constructed approach.
Utility companies will begin working on the site next week. Communication lines are directly above the work area on power poles. Those will need to be raised by the utilities so the contractor equipment will be able to fit underneath them.
This work is expected to last a week and is required before fieldwork can begin.
Contractor excavation will start immediately after utilities are cleared from the work zone. That work is expected to start at the end of November.