The Second Street Plaza is blooming in the rain. The revelation of the new stamped and colored concrete corners on Pacific Avenue have already brightened up the dreary weather.
Now the forms are being set for the pouring of the striking dark gray “tactile paver strip” that will serve as the visual “curbing” on the street to differentiate the pedestrian from the vehicular areas when cars are using the westbound one-way. When the plaza is blocked off from traffic for special events, the flat strip will not trip dancers or audience members.
Between the patterns established by those two colors, the variously-scored pebble-color concrete sections which form the base lines of the plaza will be poured over the next three weeks. Then during the week of the May 21st, the benches, bollards, and light poles will be placed in order for the entire plaza to be ready to open by the weekend of Memorial Day. And then be used as part of the June Dairy Parade festivities.
Multiple local companies have been helping in the plaza construction including Bros and Hoes Landscaping, Westwind Concrete, and CoastWide Ready Mix. The landscapers will also be laying the unit pavers between the curb and sidewalk all the way down Pacific from My 12 through the 21st, adding another strip of color down the road.
The other project piece that is tracking well with being completed on schedule is the Hoquarton Bridge itself. The excavator crews and lightweight concrete crews will be flipping back forth between the North and South bridge approaches over the next month, grading, tying in water & sewer lines, and installing the curb, gutter, driveways, & bio-retention ponds to make way for the sidewalk crews to move in on the approaching sidewalk pours.
Atop the bridge, the electrical is now going in along the east side with the forming of the overlook getting finished up next Wednesday and sidewalks/overlook being poured during the next week. And then the magic happens as the bridge rail base and pylons take shape and the bright orange handrail is installed in the week before Memorial Day.
All this despite our record-setting rainfall which has turned a series of contractors’ schedules into unreadable wet rags. While it has been trying, the patience of the Tillamook community during this difficult process has been phenomenal.
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@