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Business owners in Oregon City are still fuming over the Oregon Department of Transportation‘s plans to shut down and repair the historic Oregon City Arch Bridge for two years.

Owners acknowledge that the bridge needs work. But they’re concerned their businesses will suffer greatly when one of the city’s two major routes to the Portland area is closed temporarily. They want ODOT to provide assistance in redirecting traffic to the city’s revived downtown.

ODOT, meanwhile, says it will 鈥渕eet with (business owners) as long as we have to,鈥� according to Susan Hanson, a public affairs coordinator for the department. But she said additional road construction projects along Oregon City’s main drag, done to relieve congestion, would be complicated. There are questions as to whether ODOT would be responsible for all the work, or whether the city would pitch in money as well.

She reiterated that redirecting traffic would have minimal delays, and that ODOT is working to minimize any problems that might arise.

Oregon City business owner Robb Crocker is concerned that ODOT believes the bridge is not connected to downtown.

鈥淲e’ve heard from them that the bridge is the bridge, and the main street is the main street, and they are two completely separate things,鈥� he said.

Crocker, CEO and creative director of funnelbox Inc., said his business will lose 250 days of productivity due to the bridge closure. Crocker arrived at that number by reviewing his employees’ driving schedules and tallying the hours they would lose in traffic every week.

鈥淚f we don’t do a good job of mitigating our traffic problems during the bridge closure,鈥� Crocker said, 鈥減eople are going to have a tough time getting around.鈥�

Lloyd Purdy, manager of Oregon City’s Main Street program, said because the bridge will be out of commission for two years, there are concerns that the city’s new efforts to rehabilitate downtown will stall.

Today, Purdy is convening a meeting in which business owners can vent their frustrations. He expects the meeting to be intense because 鈥渂usiness owners are fed up,鈥� he said.

Oregon City in recent months has implemented a series of business redevelopment goals intended to reinvigorate the city’s core. Purdy was hired last year to guide the city’s efforts.

The number of businesses in downtown Oregon City is growing. There are now about 200 businesses and 1,000 employees in the area.

Purdy said business interests want ODOT to help the city navigate the aftereffects of the bridge closure.

That’s why Purdy put together a list of possible projects he’d like to see ODOT take on.

During project construction, Purdy wants signs posted that direct motorists to downtown businesses, improvements to traffic flow, and a public outreach and education campaign concerning the bridge closure.

Most importantly, however, he’d like to see improvements made to the city’s streetscape.

He has identified two of those projects: the reconstruction of a stretch of road leading from Southeast Fifth to 10th Street, which he estimates would cost $1.63 million. A similar project leading from Southeast 10th Street to 15th Street would cost about $840,000.