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Replacement contract awarded for U.S. Route 20 improvement project

By: Reed Jackson//June 25, 2012//

Replacement contract awarded for U.S. Route 20 improvement project

Reed Jackson//June 25, 2012//

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The long-delayed and highly controversial U.S. Route 20 to Eddyville Project may finally be back on track.

A $7.5 million contract has been rewarded to of Kent, Wash., to complete phase one of the project, which includes demolishing the four partly-built bridges constructed by , the project’s original contractor. Granite began building the bridges but then found them to be off plumb, which led to delays. The Oregon Department of Transportation accused Granite of not upholding its end of the project’s design-build contract, which ODOT terminated.

In order to avoid the seismic problems Granite faced, ODOT changed the project’s plans to include four box culverts, not bridges, which will be built as part of phase two of the project. Although Granite failed to build the bridges, the project is currently half completed, according to Rick Little, spokesman for ODOT.

Construction is expected to start on phase one as soon as this week and finish by April 2013. Phase two of the project, which will cost $85 million to $90 million, is expected to start shortly after and conclude in 2015. Funding for both phases will come from $28 million in original project funding, $15 million in settlement revenue from Granite and leftover savings from the Oregon Transportation Act of 2003, Little said. Overall, the project is expected to cost $300 million.



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