Author: Tillamook Chamber

The summer construction season is wrapping up quickly, and we will be seeing some big changes on the ground throughout the Highway 101/6 project. Definitely expect night work- paving on Pacific is a priority, and this week we will be navigating single lane closures as paving begins, with a full detour in place Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night next week. Pacific Ave. will be closed from fourth street north to First St. at night, and traffic will be detoured using Laurel and Fourth Street as alternatives to Pacific and Third.

The bioswales along Pacific will be drained, and, once all of the liners are down, the filtration pipe installed and the first layers of fill will be placed in the coming weeks. This should cut down on the standing water and make cleaning and maintenance simpler. A downtown cleanup effort is set for Friday, September 1^st, from 9-noon. Organized by Tillamook High School Senior River Veek, this event is part of his larger Senior Project, in which he has mapped the downtown and recruited service organizations to adopt blocks during community clean up days. The debris build up in the bioswales has underscored how important these community cleanup efforts are.

Parking on Main Street will close on September 5^th, immediately after Labor Day. Construction in that area is getting a jump start on the parking closure- crews will be tearing in to the underground vault on Third St just east of Main starting next Monday. Businesses intend to remain open and access to them is guaranteed by ODOT throughout the work on Main Street. This is a great time to check out the public parking lots along Ivy, as the reasons to visit the construction zone just increased by the release from Pacific Restaurant that they plan to open almost in tandem with the parking closure.

Bridgework will also get serious after Labor Day. The southbound bridge between Rosenberg Builders Supply and Front St will be closed, and traffic will be reconfigured over the new bridge to accommodate both north and southbound traffic. There have been many creative discussions about managing access to Rosenberg’s, and conversations continue. Pedestrian traffic through the area will also be challenging, and we are hoping the final pedestrian plan will be released early next week. Chief Wright continues to encourage people to be patient and vigilant as they navigate the area, whether on foot or behind the wheel.

Despite the stress and challenges that the coming months will bring, take heart in the fact that we are now essentially halfway through this project. The next few months will be especially tough as crews scramble to take advantage of the weather window and get a jump start on this next phase.

If you have any questions or concerns about the project or the next steps, feel free to contact us at the Tillamook Area Chamber of Commerce. We are open at our new location at 208 Main St., right in the thick of all this, Monday through Friday 9-5.

Greetings All,

Each week, the entire Highway Project Team of engineers and contractors gathers to review a three week look-ahead schedule, which allows them to brainstorm how to mobilize specialists into different areas of the project with a kind of choreography that only a community that hosts three dance studios can truly appreciate.

All this coordination is further complicated by things like weather, state and federal regulations, fabrication of project elements, and possibly the biggest tourist event of the decade: the solar eclipse. ODOT has been tuning in to the extensive planning efforts around the state, and the decision was made to halt all construction during the height of the anticipated frenzy on August 21st and 22nd, giving folks an opportunity to clear out of town a bit prior to moving in to what all parties hope will be the paving cycle on Pacific. More information about the paving schedule will be available as we come closer, but we can anticipate single lane closures, night paving and a few short days of detouring.

On the immediate horizon, the (intentional) demolition of the wall adjacent to the Post Office will take place Thursday. Out of respect to their delivery schedule, special arrangements have been made to have a contractor onsite on Sunday to trench and lay drainpipe through the Post Office parking lot. Paving repair will take place overnight next Thursday, July 27th, in tandem with the paving of the new stretch of Pacific that goes from First St. to the bridge, and the removal of the sign bridge. Expect flagging along with night work on the 27th.

I have inserted below a photo of the map that hangs on the wall above the table where the weekly meetings take place. You can see some of the code language I referred to last week in the image. This week, I thought it might be a nice visual aid. Thank you for your ongoing interest in this project, and I look forward to sharing some before and after pictures next week!!

In addition to flowers and tourists, the sunshine that is on its way is going to be coating the town with asphalt.  When the sun burns through tomorrow morning, expect to see the project crews swarming over the bridge this entire weekend as they ready the new structure to accept traffic on the 24th of this month (Wednesday of next week).

To do that, the balance of the bridge sidewalks, rails, and overlook need to get poured in order to ready everything for the pavers, who are coming on Monday.  Once the pavers arrive, plans are to work right through Monday and Tuesday nights getting the bridge paved in two three-inch lifts and a temporary tie-in laid back to Main Avenue.  Late on Tuesday night, the flaggers and stripers will take over, realigning the lanes so that northbound traffic up main will be guided over onto the new bridge come Wednesday morning.

It may be a bit rough on Wednesday as the finishing touches are put on and everyone gets used to the new alignment but by the end-of-day, the switch should be complete with two lanes open for the southbound on Main over the old bridge and one lane running north over the new bridge.  This so-called ‘Memorial Day Configuration’ will  probably be in place until the middle of July when the south approach should be completed and northbound traffic will no longer have to take the dogleg around the old Shell Station, but can roll directly off of Pacific onto the new bridge.

While all of that is underway, starting tomorrow, the flatwork crews will be finishing up the decorative quilted concrete panels on Second Street in a series of four pours working from Main toward Pacific.  This should complete the puzzle and enable the streetscape pieces such as the kiosk and covered bike rack to be installed shortly thereafter with the bollards completing the plaza once they arrive in the next few weeks.  The Cork’n Brew festivities on June 16th will inaugurate the Plaza, as it will then be ready for summertime events.

Now that the traffic has been shifted to two lanes on the west side of Pacific Avenue, work on the east side sidewalks is also in full swing.  To get portions of the demolition work done, there will be some nightwork required in the next few weeks that will close one of the lanes, but for the most part, construction can otherwise occur using the parking bays without limiting the two northbound lanes.

As if that weren’t enough to deal with, this intense ODOT construction schedule is going to be matched by the paving of the last of the City’s sewerline project on First Street.   The grinding of First from Stillwell to Cedar and then around the corner to 4th and west is set to happen this Friday so that overlay paving can follow behind starting next Monday.  Please beware of the manhole covers and other obstructions sticking up along that route over the weekend and expect to be rerouted in that area beginning of next week.

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@tillamookchamber.org

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@tillamookchamber.org

Our last bulletin was focused primarily on the major traffic reconfiguration that was implemented a couple of weeks ago.

While some guidance improvements have been made since that time, such as the application of arrows on the new lanes indicating which path to follow for various turns, there are still bugs being worked out.

Another major clarification will be the painting of lane striping on First at the intersections with Main and Pacific, along with the striping of the lanes over the old bridge.

These couldn’t be done until there was a window of dry weather and so now the contractor finally has an opening and has scheduled it for Thursday and Friday of this week.  During this painting operation, the bridge will again be reduced to one lane with flaggers.

The next major element in the construction will be the pulling of the old wooden pilings and setting three new casings for the east half of the replacement bridge commencing tomorrow.  Setting each casing will require 16-to-18 hour days starting at low tide with a couple of days between for curing and preparation of the next one.  So with one being set every third day, these should be complete by next week this time.

In the meantime, the old storm drain outfall for the downtown will be installed next Monday with the old outfall being pulled shortly thereafter, and work will continue on the Pacific Avenue sidewalk area next to Homelife Furniture.

There have been several inquiries regarding the USPS Box next to the Courthouse that had to be removed as part of the traffic reconfiguration.  While it was initially believed that this could be replaced in the next year when the traffic shifts to the other side of the street, it has been discovered that even after the project is entirely completed, that box will not be able to go back in that same location due to the final lane alignment being too close to the curb.  Alternative permanent locations are being sought.

Due to the large number of concerns received, this interim bulletin is being sent out to try to explain some of the ramifications of the recent midweek traffic reconfiguration.  As with any major change, it takes awhile to:

1. work out all of the bugs, and
2. get accustomed to it.

The new signage and signals have caused a fair amount of confusion with vehicles running the new red light on First and Main as some westbound vehicles turn north round the corner where there used to be a free right.  Traffic that is familiar with the intersection is trying to continue to use First Street between Pacific & Main heading west as a 3-lane as prior to construction.  There are now 2 lanes there: 1 right turn only lane and 1 straight through w/left turn arrow.  Drivers also can be frustrated by the lack of free movement as they wait for non-turning traffic in the wrong lane to clear the intersection.

There have been a couple of signage changes attempted to try to clarify this and once striping is in place (OSBC is waiting for a dry day before painting) that may make traffic patterns more apparent.  There are still some issues with the existing signs on the sign bridge, which may lead a driver to believe there are 3 lanes, but those are being examined with ODOT now.

The intersection of First and 101 is just one example from all of the temporary changes that have been put in place; issues such as installing a “No Left Turn” symbol on Main & Front St. on northbound 101 have been remedied, and others are in process.   Working out the turning requirements for business accesses may take some additional fine tuning.

There is still the frustration that comes from the fact that all of changes were put into place within a very short time period as part of an overall project package so that drivers see a variety of new barriers with no construction nearby.  There is a cost effectiveness to doing it this way, but it also appears to constrict certain businesses more than others.

The good thing is, as painful as this process may be, the next major reconfiguration won’t occur until around Memorial Day as the project reshapes itself for the 2017 summer traffic.

While there was some frustration last week with all of the lane reconfigurations getting established in the downtown, and then the storm hitting right after set-up so that no work could proceed (you will probably see some drums replacing the cones and candlesticks that were blown away or run over), the project is getting back on course this week and ramping up.  The old intersection traffic signals are coming down and the temporaries are switching on.  This critical preparation piece has been slowing the pace of project construction as a necessary step that must precede the drainage and sidewalk work on Pacific Avenue.

Specifically, tomorrow at 8am they are going to  turn on the signal at 3rd and Pacific, then do the signal at 1st and Main starting at 7pm tomorrow night.  They will have 6 flaggers set up for that signal and striping change tomorrow night.

The next lane reconfigurations will be converting 101 immediately north of the Hoquarton into one lane each direction, going into effect tomorrow, the sawcutting and sidewalk removal work along the westside of Pacific Avenue between 4th and 3rd should also start on Thursday.  This work will continue for about a month before moving north to the block between 3rd and 2nd.

After that second block of work concludes, roughly another month later, the reconstruction of 2nd Street between Main and Pacific into a pedestrian plaza should begin.  While projected to consume approximately three months by itself, this construction element will be used as a staging area for equipment and materials inventory that supports the sidewalk work on Pacific.  Therefore, the full closure of this street may continue to the end of May.

In order to help alleviate some of the impacts on the businesses downtown, the City Council adopted the Temporary Parking Plan this past Monday night.  It has opened up some of the nearby reserved parking areas to the public and placed additional loading areas around the downtown so that businesses can get their deliveries as needed.  We encourage all of you, and your friends and neighbors, to go out of your way to patronize those downtown businesses for the next two construction years so that they can remain viable.

Many people have also expressed concerns about the removal of trees along Pacific.  Again, this is preparatory to all of the sidewalk reconstruction that is about to take place and there is a full plan for replanting the entire affected avenue once that work is completed.  Once established, these replantings will present a coordinated well-colored corridor as you head north through town.

On a side note, a non-highway sewerline project that has just started on the west end of town may also have some traffic impacts in the next month or two as it works its way up Cedar to First Street and ends at the intersection with Stillwell.   As an open cut trench near the middle of a truck route, there will likely be some delays and rerouting involved.  As traffic control plans are developed and released, we will keep you posted.

In a last minute change of plans, the scheduled closure of Second Street was moved forward from October 18th to closure today, Wednesday October 12th. Materials and equipment are anticipated to start moving into the block today with the actual removal of the asphalt and other surfaces still a week or more away. The Chamber and City were informed of this change late yesterday; 911 and the School District have been notified. The contractors have gone door-to-door with the businesses on that street to let them know.

Highway traffic will also be placed in its full configuration for Stage 1 on Pacific, 3rd, and 4th Streets at the same time.

The Street will remain closed until it’s complete (approximately 90 days). The project will completely renovate the portion of 2nd between Main and Pacific into a ‘Festival Street’ or pedestrian plaza that will provide a level area for dances or other community events to take place. During times when this block is not shut down for such activities, the traffic will flow from Pacific westbound in a one-lane one-way configuration all the way down to Fir Avenue. The block will also have diagonal parking along its south-side when it is open for traffic.

The downtown construction has been getting higher profile these past weeks as the temporary signalization has increased in intensity, along with Tillamook Public Utility District’s work on taking down trees and moving power poles.  This may involve some nightwork during the week of October 10th.

This is all in preparation for the sawcutting and drainage work along Pacific Avenue that is currently scheduled to begin the week of October 17th.  Sidewalk removal should follow shortly behind that.

All this while the drainage and bridgework continues on the northside of the Hoquarton.  Shafts are being drilled, rebar tied, and sheet pilings installed on the north bank, at the same time that lightweight concrete known as cellcrete will be formed and bermed as a supportive base for each end of the new bridge.
October 18th will see the contractor closing down 2nd Street between Main and Pacific and mobilizing in equipment and inventory.  The full tear-out of the street is scheduled to commence the first week of November and continue for approximately three months.

In the meantime, the Temporary Parking Plan for the next two construction years is undergoing some minor refinements and is scheduled for final adoption on October 17th; however, the on-street striping is already underway and is being applied as weather permits.

The directional signage that will accompany this is being prepared as a cooperative effort between the Chamber and the Police Department and, once laid out, will move through the permit process so that our Christmas visitors can easily locate parking.  The Chamber has also recently hired a new Downtown Development Director, Sierra Lauder, who will be helping to promote the parking and business opportunities that will be available during the construction period.

The Chamber’s presentation to the City Council regarding the Temporary Parking Plan for the next two construction years was very productive.  The draft was reshaped from some 20 possible policy and implementation action items down to 15 that are both cost efficient and doable.   Most measures were adopted that night for immediate implementation while some will require additional Council resolutions to change previous policies.

The overall plan is depicted in this link Temporary Parking Plan which shows where new on-street parking will be developed and additional inventories of off-street parking will be made available.  The next step is securing locations for additional directional signage to ensure that the traveling public passing through the project can find places to stop and patronize our downtown businesses.

The Chamber will be developing various informational products to advertise the parking opportunities that will be available during the construction period.  One outlet is this bulletin, but there will be multiple additional digital and on-street outreach efforts to make our available parking easily obvious to our customers.

Again the biggest news this week is not about changes in the contractors’ schedule, which is holding steady with the downtown signalization, the digout around the former Mar Claire area, and the in-water Hoquarton work, but rather about a couple of sideboard stories.

There may be those of you who are wondering about the Hoquarton Park sculpture.  As we have been informing folks at all of our public workshops, that sculpture was intended to remain in place and be integrated into the resulting post-project aesthetic Park landscaping.  However, as storm drainage work was underway in the Hoquarton Landing area, the drainage plan sheets did not clearly indicate protection of the sculpture and it was pulled out, fortunately intact, to allow the storm drain pipes to be placed.

The contractor and ODOT are now developing concepts for replacing the sculpture, whether in the near–term or near the end of the project.   ODOT has promised that one way or another, the sculpture will rise again.

As the contractor continues with installation of temporary signals and other preparatory efforts, we are beginning to see more excavation and drainage work starting to occur, along with the removal of the old bridge supports and installation of the temporary work bridge.  The one lane closures have been intermittent and brought about by a combination of the contractor’s intersection signalization and City’s Waterline work.  This week’s three week look-ahead from the contractor didn’t have too many major changes other than the fact that the closure of the Second Street Plaza has been bumped to the first week of October.

The Chamber itself has introduced a bit of news with the presentation of a Temporary Parking Plan for the next two construction years to the City Council on Monday.  The draft contains some 20 policy and implementation action items that should add at least 44 parking spaces to the City’s inventory to make up for those lost during construction.  Once adopted, the various measures will be put into place immediately.

Perhaps the biggest breaking news, however, is the fact that the ODOT and the owners of the Shell Station at First and Main have reached an agreement that will close down the station as of the end of September and decommission the fuel tanks by mid-October, according to Mike Sheldon of Sheldon Oil.  The details of the agreement have not been ‘inked’ as of yet, and the decision making process as to what to do with the property has not yet begun, so this news item has a great deal of unknown ramifications that will be unfolding in the near future.

Now that Labor Day has come and gone, the City of Tillamook is finally fully involved in the US 101/OR 6 Highway Intersection Project.  The reader board signs are up, the warnings about night work have been circulated, and the men in orange vests and hard hats are cropping up everywhere.  It is time for this bulletin to go weekly.

Every Tuesday, except for delays during holidays, we will be receiving the contractor’s schedule revisions with all of their proposed activities for the following three weeks.

Today’s three week look-ahead revealed that the night work warnings would not be going into effect right away, but that there will be daytime lane restrictions on Pacific Avenue between 8 AM and 4 PM instead.  It is anticipated that Pacific Avenue will be restricted to one lane of traffic from 4th to 1st Street for the foreseeable future as drilling for temporary signalization poles, preliminary drainage, and other preparatory work commences.  This may cause some traffic queuing, particularly in the afternoons.  The 911 Center has been alerted to this change and emergency adjustments will be made.

The balance of the three-week schedule is focused on tasks in the new bridge area with clearing and grubbing, removal of old non-functioning bridge structures and contaminated soils, and installation of a new work bridge.

The big heads up for the downtown businesses is that the full closure of Second Street between Main and Pacific is scheduled to start on September 26th, the same time that sidewalk demo work on the westside of Pacific Avenue from 4th to 3rd will commence.  The full closure will allow for the total demolition of Second Street and its sidewalks.  While vehicles will be prohibited, one access point for pedestrians will be maintained for Second Street businesses which do not have an alternative access off of another street.

The closure is anticipated to remain in place for over 90 days as the street is rebuilt into a Plaza that allows for downtown events and activities to occur on a leveled curb-free, danceable surface which can be closed off and accommodate performance stages and features such a fountains in the near future.

Hang in there and standby for a little turbulence as we ascend to our construction attitude.

The ‘Meet The Contractor’ event last Tuesday was a great launch point for the 33 million dollar Highway 101/6 Project with business owners taking the opportunity to rub elbows with the friendly folks from Oregon State Bridge Construction (OSBC) and ask some direct questions while grabbing a free Pelican Pub/Creamery Association rootbeer float at the same time.

One of the critical announcements at that event was OSBC’s unveiling of their two-year construction schedule, which is presented in a simplified form on the following pages for your review as to how it might affect your operations.  Please remember that the dates are approximate and may change with circumstances.  We will be receiving a three-week ‘look-ahead’ schedule at the regular construction meetings and will try to keep you posted on key changes as the project proceeds.  Click here for Hwy 101/6 Schedule.

A much-discussed topic was maintenance of access to the businesses.  It was highlighted that, throughout the project, sustaining two lanes of traffic on both Main and Pacific is a key goal.  There may be temporary lane closures, but there will not be a bypass around the downtown.  The couplets will flow, but, as noted on the schedule, parking on Main or Pacific may be removed for extended periods of time.  Some side streets, such as Second Avenue where the new plaza is being built, may face extended closure while they are being reconstructed.

There is also a contractual requirement that ADA-compliant pedestrian routes be maintained through the downtown.  The exact configurations of those routings remain to be determined, but, again, as such information is produced, we will strive to get the word out to you as soon as possible.

In summary the project schedule has been developed in response to commitments made to the City and business community. These include:

•  Avoiding construction that impacts traffic in the downtown couplet area during the summer months.
•  When working in the downtown area, the contractor is limited to replacing the sidewalk on one    side of the roadway at a time within a city block.
•  Access must be provided to one corner of a city block at all times.
•  Access to business doorways must be maintained.

Another recent OSBC announcement was that nightwork will begin on Tuesday the 6th at the intersections of First Street with Main & Pacific.  This will continue into the next week with intersection work on Third and Pacific.  The nightwork is to prepare for the new signal light installations and may involve such noise-producing activities as concrete-cutting, drilling, and back-up beepers, in addition to bright lighting.