Logs trucks move over; the bridge is arriving.
Starting tomorrow, Friday the 17th, and repeating next Monday & Wednesday, trucks bearing the long bridge beams will be coming to town. Expect short delays as flag cars stop 101traffic while the trucks make the difficult turns into the work site to deliver the big sticks.
This is all gearing up so that Oregon State Bridge Construction can set the first span on March 7th. Meanwhile the rest of the bridgework is continuing forward now that the Oregon Transportation Commission approved a Bridge Bent Cap redesign today. This will replace the original cast-in-place components, poured inside a falsework cofferdam in the middle of the Hoquarton, with a pre-cast bent cap approach that forms up and pours the bridge supports off-site and trucks them in to avoid the trials and tribulations that this year’s heavy storm flows and high tides have brought to bear.
Of course, that means additional long-bed trucks bringing in large pre-cast components for off-loading in the future, with all of the attendant short-term traffic delays, but it carries the added benefit of keeping the overall project on schedule.
As to the overall project, it also received a significant structural support today with the Oregon Transportation Commission approving the needed additional funding to cover the budget shortfalls. This approval carries the added benefit of keeping the entire project viable so that it can be completed as promised to the Tillamook community.
Meanwhile, the other aspects of the project take two steps forward and then one step back as 90 feet of sidewalk was poured on Pacific Avenue and then had to be torn out as it didn’t have the pre-approved scoring pattern on it that will be matched throughout the downtown. While 90 feet sounds like a lot, the mistake was fortunately caught right away because it will set the tone for the look of the town center with over 2,000 feet of new sidewalks in the area from First to Fourth and Main to Pacific.
Hopefully, the project has crested the difficult haul upslope over the learning curve issues and the downslope run can now cut loose with new improvements being realized every month.