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A Woodburn-based contractor is facing $13,000 in state fines after an equipment failure in Portland on Monday caused a miles-long traffic backup on Interstate 205 southbound lanes.

According to the Oregon Department of Transportation, a concrete mixer belonging to Woodburn-based Kerr Contractors malfunctioned. That delayed the effort to cure a batch of concrete being applied as part of a bridge joint repair. I-205 lanes subsequently remained closed to motorists beginning near Northeast Halsey Street after 5:30 a.m., when they were supposed to reopen.

鈥淭he work they were doing early that morning involved improving some ramps and some bridge joints pieces, where the sections are coupled together,鈥� ODOT spokesman Don Hamilton said. 鈥淭hey were doing some concrete work on the bridge joint and they had a malfunction of the mixer and it was unable to set the material properly.鈥�

Lanes didn’t reopen until shortly after 8:30 a.m. Several media outlets reported that the backup of motor vehicles eventually reached as far north as Washington’s S.R. 500 鈥� several miles north of the state border.

The work being performed by Kerr is part of ODOT’s Big Fix PDX project that calls for improvements on all of the major Portland-area freeways this summer.

Fines assessed in such a situation, Hamilton said, are based upon the contract in place for the project. In this case, the state’s contract with Kerr called for $500 in fines for every 15 minutes that a single lane is closed past the planned reopening time previously agreed to by the parties. With three I-205 lanes closed for hours, the fine amount increased rapidly.

Phone calls to Kerr Contractors seeking comment were not returned promptly.

ODOT inadvertently exacerbated the traffic situation, Hamilton said, by advising commuters via social media and other outlets to use I-205 as an alternative to Interstate 5, where major maintenance is also taking place.

鈥淔or all the warnings about the work on I-5, we were encouraging people to use other routes like I-205,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e directed them to calamity, and that’s very distressing for ODOT. We’re trying to make sure that doesn’t happen again.鈥�