Now that the sun has finally arrived from wherever it was vacationing, safety orange is blossoming everywhere. The crews, whether ODOT contractors or City’s, or even the telecommunications cablemen, are out there working on just about every other street downtown, making hay while the sun shines.
And just when you were getting used to it, the northbound traffic on Pacific Avenue will switch to the other side tonight after the nightwork crews sweep the lanes, throws some asphalt mix in the conduit trenches across the road, and restripes the travel lanes. You will be driving on the west side of Pacific Avenue tomorrow morning and that will allow the contractors to start sawcutting the eastside sidewalks on Thursday. The whole thing is getting rather breathless in its pacing.
The future realignment of Pacific is beginning to be recognizable as the cellcrete approaches have been mixed and formed up so that you can see the new curve wrap around the old Shell station on the south side of the bridge as it chases the excavation up the hill. The long lines of concrete trucks have been pouring their hearts out getting the deck laid on the bridge itself. On the north side, the widened road will be ready to be paved next week so that the contractors can tie-in the old road to the new on the night of the 24th and switch the traffic over on the 25th.
With ODOT’s announcement of delays last week, the work on the east Pacific sidewalks will be extending through June. While we were all hoping that such activity would be cleared out of the way by Memorial Day, it will not impact the June Dairy Parade because it has been rerouted this year to come from the south and turn east up Third in order to avoid the construction area.
The westside sidewalks are getting their finishing touches as the bi-colored unit pavers are being carefully-placed in geometric patterns down the curbside. Unfortunately, the trees and shrubs won’t be planted for another year, but all of the rest of the streetscape features can be installed even while traffic has been shifted to that side.
The Second Street Plaza, with its mosaic of different colored pours, is nearing completion. The decorative lights are due to arrive next week. The Cork’n Brew and the June Dairy Parade are already planning multiple events on the new centerpiece. All that is needed is six more dry days for six more pours. That is all that is needed to get it wrapped by Memorial Day!
Our Highway Project E-news bulletin is created by Jeannell Wyntergreen, Highway 101/6 Project Liaison for the Tillamook Area Chamber of Commerce. If you have any questions or would like to share a comment with the Chamber, contact her at hwyproject@