TRAFFIC ALERT: Next week, construction begins on the north Stark Street Bridge approach. Expect traffic delays on the Historic Columbia River Highway.
A contractor hired by Multnomah County will be working to repair and replace the north approach for the Stark Street Bridge. 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. The single lane reduction will remain in place for the duration of construction. Speed in the work zone will be reduced to 45 miles per hour.
Pending weather, the bridge is expected to partially reopen to one lane of traffic by the end of February.
To learn more about the repair process from Transportation Road Maintenance, watch this video.
Resources for residents
Every week throughout the duration of these emergency repairs, Multnomah County will post an update on repair progress on its project page.
For questions related to the repairs, contact:
Ken Bossen,
Multnomah County Transportation Road Maintenance Supervisor
ken.bossen@multco.us.
Detours
Vehicles will be rerouted to use the Sandy River Bridge in Troutdale.
Initial closure
On Tuesday, Sept. 17, the Stark Street Bridge in the Columbia River Gorge closed due to a supporting stone wall that partially collapsed. Since then, the bridge has been closed. The County started work the minute the bridge wall collapse was discovered and has been working non-stop with engineers, biologists, historical resource experts and a contractor to evaluate the situation and figure out the best way to repair the bridge. The partial collapse was caused by a series of crashes by vehicles and large trucks over the last decade that weakened the supporting wall. The damage is structural and significant, requiring the complete reconstruction of the bridge approach on the Historic Columbia River Highway side of the bridge.
Work leading up to construction
In the last two months since the retaining wall failure in September, the project team has been working with a design consultant, utility companies and a contractor to design the repairs. While the community may have not seen crews out at the site during that time, the project team has been hard at work every day working on those designs. There’s a lot of work that has to happen behind the scenes before construction. This is a very complex location to build a new embankment on that will support traffic and meet all regulatory requirements. The repairs won’t restrict or change the vehicle capacity on the bridge.
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.
Emergency repair work is on the Historic Columbia River Highway as well, which is owned and maintained by the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT). In order to move forward with the repair, the County is required to get a permit from ODOT. This also requires federal and historic review and approval due to the location, further complicating the process. The County needed final ODOT approval before construction could begin.
What we are doing longer term
The County was already working on the preliminary steps to replace or significantly rehabilitate the bridge because of its condition and lack of capacity. In the future, the County will need to make more permanent repairs either as part of a bridge replacement or through a project to build a new permanent approach.
Multnomah County maintains the Stark Street Bridge on the Sandy River. For information, visit: https://www.multco.us/bridges.