By LEA SKENE
Associated Press

BALTIMORE (AP) — Maryland transportation leaders on Thursday approved a contract for rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge several months after the 1.6-mile steel span of a massive container ship that lost power and crashed into one of its supporting columns.

In the immediate aftermath of the deadly March 26 collapse, officials quickly promised to rebuild the bridge — a and vital piece of transportation infrastructure.

They cited a and estimated the project would cost $1.7 billion and would include significantly more pier protection to better defend against future wayward ships.

At a monthly meeting Thursday morning, the Maryland Transportation Authority board awarded a $73 million contract for the first phase of the project to Kiewit Infrastructure, which calls itself “one of North America’s largest and most respected engineering and construction organizations.”

Bruce Gartner, executive director of the Maryland Transportation Authority, said the contract award signifies a big step forward in the recovery and rebuild process.

“This really represents such an order of magnitude bigger than all our previous milestones,” he said in an interview Thursday. He said the agency hopes to release renderings of a preliminary design within the next few months, which will give the public an idea of what the new bridge will look like.

Kiewit was founded in 1884 to provide masonry services in Omaha, Nebraska, according to its website. Its notable past projects include the Fort McHenry Tunnel under Baltimore’s harbor, which opened in 1985. More drivers have been using the tunnel since the bridge collapse eliminated one of three water crossings that allowed them to bypass downtown Baltimore.

Gartner said the state has worked with Kiewit before and that the company has managed construction of major water crossings with maritime activity similar to the Key Bridge.

“We look forward to partnering with the Maryland Transportation Authority, many local subcontractors and suppliers, and our strong craft workforce to safely deliver and restore this vital transportation link in the city of Baltimore and the greater region,” the company said in a statement Thursday.

In announcing their recommendation to the board, state transportation officials said the company’s proposal was ranked first for its technical contents despite being somewhat more expensive than others.

Officials said the project will advance in two phases, with the first focusing on the design work and other necessary steps before construction begins, which could include demolition of the remaining pieces of the bridge that are still standing. Phase one is expected to be completed within a year.

Kiewit will have “exclusive negotiating rights” for the second phase, transportation officials said in a statement following the board meeting. “In the event a guaranteed maximum price is not agreed upon, the MDTA will deliver the work under a separate contracting mechanism,” the statement read.

Officials have said the new bridge will be somewhat taller than the old one to accommodate ever-larger ships entering Baltimore’s harbor. The original Key Bridge took five years to construct and opened in 1977.

The March bridge collapse killed six members of a road work crew who were filling potholes on the bridge when it came crashing down into the water below. Baltimore’s busy port was closed for months after the collapse and increased traffic congestion in the region remains a problem for drivers.

An FBI investigation is ongoing into the circumstances leading up to the collapse, including experienced by the cargo ship Dali while it was still docked in Baltimore.

The state transportation board also on Thursday approved a proposal to remit the proceeds from a recent $350 million insurance payout to the federal government. They called the decision a show of good faith as discussions continue about whether the federal government will cover 100% of the cleanup and rebuilding costs. Chubb, the company that insured the bridge, made the $350 million payout to the state, officials said this week.

Ongoing litigation will ultimately determine other in the bridge collapse, which could become one of the most expensive maritime disasters in U.S. history.

Impacted businesses have joined Baltimore’s mayor and city council in filing claims arguing the owner and manager of the Dali should have to pay damages. Underwood Energy, a Baltimore-based company that transports hazardous materials, filed a new claim Thursday based on revenue losses associated with the bridge collapse. Hazmat trucks are not allowed in two tunnels under the Baltimore harbor, so those vehicles “now must make a 30-mile detour to cross the Patapsco River,” the complaint says.

The federal government generally picks up 90% of the tab and the state 10% when replacing disaster-damaged interstate highways and bridges, but the Biden administration and members of Maryland’s congressional delegation are pushing congressional lawmakers to approve a 100% reimbursement.

Officials have said they expect that federal taxpayers will eventually be made whole for replacing the bridge through insurance payouts and damages, but that may take a while.

Associated Press writer Brian Witte also contributed to this report.

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The Morrison Bridge, in Portland, has its first new coat of paint since it opened across the Willamette River in 1958.

Crews completed a $26 million improvement project this month after two years of work that gave the bridge a fresh look and enhanced safety. The project was primarily federally funded; Multnomah County covered 10 percent of the cost.

The project’s contractor was Southern Road and Bridge of Tarpon Springs, Florida.

The aluminum-gray paint is meant to resemble the original coat. Three different coats of paint were applied: a zinc primer coat, an intermediate coat for added protection, and then a finish coat.

Through required inspections during the project, crews were able to perform more than 20 steel repairs to strengthen the bridge. Crews also repainted sign structures over the bridge and replaced all the old signs to make traffic and safety messaging more visible.

On the horizon is another Morrison Bridge project. Crews will strengthen the Southeast Morrison Street and Southeast Belmont Street ramps to reduce weight restrictions that prevent drivers of heavy trucks from crossing the bridge. Work will also involve replacing the motors and brakes in the movable span. Construction is expected to take place from spring 2024 to fall 2025.

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By Lee D. Han
Transportation engineer, University of Tennessee

Twelve days after a portion of Interstate 95 collapsed in north Philadelphia during a truck fire, officials opened a temporary six-lane roadway to serve motorists while a permanent overpass is rebuilt. This was a major success after the June 11 disaster was predicted to snarl traffic for months.

U.S. cities often face similar challenges when routine wear and tear or natural disasters damage roads and bridges. Transportation engineer Lee D. Han explains how planners, transit agencies and city governments anticipate and manage these disruptions.

How do agencies plan for disruptions like this?

Planning is a central mission for state and metropolitan transportation agencies.

Traditional long-term planning focuses on anticipating and preparing for growing and shifting transportation demand patterns. These changes are driven by regional and national economic and population trends.

Shorter-term planning is about ensuring mobility and safety during service disruptions. These events can include construction, major scheduled events like music festivals, traffic incidents such as crashes and hazardous material spills, emergency evacuations, and events like the I-95 bridge collapse in Philadelphia.

Agencies have limited resources, so they typically set priorities based on how likely a given scenario is, its potential adverse effects and the countermeasures that officials have available.

For bridges, the Federal Highway Administration sets standards and requires states to carry out periodic inspections. In addition, agencies develop a detouring plan for each bridge in case of a structural failure or service disruption.

Major bridges, such as those at Mississippi River crossings, are crucial to the nation’s economy and security. They require significant planning, commitment and coordination between multiple agencies. There usually are multiple contingency plans in place to deal with immediate traffic control, incident response and field operations during longer-term bridge repair or reconstruction projects.

What are some major challenges of rerouting traffic?

Bridges are potential choke points in highway networks. When a bridge fails, traffic immediately stops and begins to flow elsewhere, even without a formal detouring plan. Transportation agencies need to build or find excess capacity before a bridge fails, so that the disrupted traffic has alternative routes.

This is usually manageable in major urban areas that have many parallel routes and bridges and built-in redundancy in their road networks. But for rural areas, failure of a major bridge can mean extra hours or even days of travel.

When traffic has to be rerouted off an interstate highway, it can cause safety and access problems.

If large trucks are diverted to local streets that were not designed for such vehicles, they may get stuck on railroad tracks or in spaces too small for them to turn around. Heavy trucks can damage roads and bridges with low weight limits, and tall trucks may be too large to fit through low-clearance underpasses.

Successful rerouting requires a lot of coordination between agencies and jurisdictions. They may have to adjust road signal timing to deal with extra cars and changed traffic patterns. Local drivers may need to be directed away from these alternative routes to prevent major congestion.

It’s also important to communicate with navigation apps like Google Maps and Waze, which every driver has access to. Route choices that speed up individual trips may cause serious congestion if everyone decides to take the same alternate route and it doesn’t have enough capacity to handle the extra traffic.

Can these events permanently change commuting and traffic patterns?

In some cases, yes. Some repairs take months, such as the 2022 I-40 Hernando De Soto Bridge crack across the Mississippi River in Memphis, Tennessee. Others can stretch over years, such as the 2007 collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis. Some structures are rebuilt elsewhere, like the I-880 Cypress Street viaduct in Oakland, California, which collapsed during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

While traffic is disrupted, motorists change their commute patterns or may even switch to other modes, such as buses or commuter rail. But after repairs are completed, even if some commuters don’t return to their old routes, new traffic soon will take advantage of the restored capacity. In the end, it’s hard to tell just by looking at usage whether commuters have changed their travel patterns permanently.

Will money from the 2021 infrastructure bill reduce the risk of these kinds of events?

Unfortunately, things do fall apart. U.S. infrastructure has been deteriorating for decades. The American Road & Transportation Builders Association estimated that 1 in 3 U.S. bridges need repair.

At the current rate, we are unlikely to catch up to a state of good repair any time soon. But strategic investments like the 2021 infrastructure bill can likely help repair and address critical deterioration concerns for some high-risk bridges, roads, dams and other structures.

Can public transit fill part of the gap?

Public transit may be able to fill the gap in several ways when key roadway links are destroyed or damaged.

Fixed-route rail transit services, such as Washington, D.C.’s Metro and commuter rail services in Chicago, typically have exclusive rights of way, which let them travel at higher speed than buses on surface streets. They also have high capacity that can be increased by adding more cars to each train or running trains more frequently.

If those systems’ routes are not disrupted due to something like a bridge collapse, they may be able to operate above their normal loads. Drivers can shift to transit as long as their trip origins and destinations are conveniently located near transit stations.

Bus transit services don’t usually have exclusive rights of way or means to add extra carrying capacity per vehicle. But they have more flexibility to extend the service areas that they cover and connect otherwise non-walkable locales.

Coordinating use of various transit services and creatively adjusting bus lines could address some local travel needs, such as daily commutes and school and shopping trips. But local public transit services struggle to fill longer-distance gaps that extend beyond their service areas.

In major urban areas like Philadelphia that have large populations and have invested a lot in their transit systems, public transit could carry as much as 25 percent of daily commute trips. But for disruptions outside of major cities, such as a bridge collapse on an interstate highway in a rural area, public transit probably won’t have much of a role.

It’s also important to note that public transit services are for moving people. Freight shipments, which rely on trucks and other specialized vehicles, also need to get through or around disrupted zones. This often requires large commercial trucks either to use nearby local streets that weren’t designed for such big, heavy vehicles, or to make long-distance detours. That increases delays, pollution, safety risks and transportation costs that will eventually be passed on to consumers.

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The Oregon Department of Transportation is offering for the new Van Buren Street Bridge in Corvallis.

A $72.6 million project is under way to replace the existing, 109-year-old bridge that brings Oregon Route 34 eastbound traffic across the Willamette River with a bridge able to withstand a major earthquake. The new bridge will be built in the same location as the existing one and include two motor vehicle lanes, a bike lane, and a protected bicyclist and pedestrian path.

As part of the project, a new traffic signal will be installed at the intersection of Northwest First Street and Northwest Van Buren Avenue to help reduce drivers’ lane changes when they approach the bridge as well as increase safety for bicyclists and pedestrians. Also, the intersection will gain textured concrete, a crosswalk on the north side and new bollards to help define pedestrian paths.

Planning for the bridge replacement project started in 2004. Reports were completed and designs were created, but no funding was allocated. Eventually, in 2017, the Oregon Legislature passed House Bill 2017, which provided more funding; the Van Buren Bridge project resumed in 2019.

The new bridge will include two multiuse pathway connections – one to Riverfront Commemorative Park and another that will loop around and go under the Van Buren Street and Harrison Street bridges and become the relocated Suzanne Wilkins Way Memorial Path. The Harrison Street Bridge carries Oregon Route 34 westbound traffic across the river.

The project is nearing the end of its design and concept development phase. Plans are nearly finalized. Construction is expected to start in 2023.

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Oregon will receive $362 million to address transportation system resiliency and bridges as part of the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The amount includes $268 million for bridges and $94 million for system resiliency.

With the recently passed IIJA, the Oregon Department of Transportation is evaluating possible projects that qualify for the bridge and resiliency portion of the funding. ODOT considers many factors during the project development and evaluation process. The agency looks at inspection information, inventory data, local perspectives and cost-benefit analysis to prioritize projects and identify recommendations for the Oregon Transportation Commission to consider.

Repainting a portion of the Fremont Bridge is one project on the table. Completed in 1973, the Fremont Bridge spans the Willamette River, connecting I-405 and I-5, and is due for painting. If approved, ODOT could begin this multi-phase project using part of the bridge funding.

The resiliency portion of the allocation funds projects that increase our infrastructure’s ability to withstand and recover from events like earthquakes and floods. While bridges are often a focal point, enhancing resiliency extends to other areas of the transportation system. Replacing a culvert on U.S. 30 near the St. Johns Bridge is one project vying for resiliency funding. This project would replace an aged culvert with a larger one, better suited for the area and significance of the highway as an emergency corridor.

Other projects under consideration for bridge and resiliency funding include a slope stabilization project to reduce rockfall hazards, replacement of a culvert that supports fish passage and a bridge replacement needed to complete a jurisdictional transfer to a local agency.

While the $362 million is a much-needed addition, it doesn’t fix the state’s system preservation funding shortage and it won’t cover every need. A portion of these funds also goes to local agencies, helping cities and counties fund bridge projects in their areas. There are nearly 2,800 bridges in the state transportation system.

For more information about ODOT’s plans, go to . For more information on the federal funding, go to ODOT’s IIJA website, . Those interested in the project selection process can submit comments and letters through the OTC website, . The public can also provide comment at OTC meetings on March 10 and March 30 (a special meeting on IIJA).

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Periodic closures of the Yaquina Bay (Newport) and Astoria-Megler (Astoria) bridges will begin March 2 as part of an effort to relocate cormorants. The bridges will be under construction for protection work and painting this summer. Birds are being encouraged to find other nesting spots.

On March 2, traffic will be held for no more than 20 minutes on the Astoria-Megler Bridge for the first test of the cormorant relocation techniques, according to an Oregon Department of Transportation news release. Daytime closures may continue intermittently through mid-June on the Yaquina Bay Bridge and until September on the Astoria-Megler Bridge.

Staff from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, will use a mixture of light and sound to discourage birds from nesting on the bridges. Techniques include sound cannons that make a loud bang noise and small projectiles that make different noises combined with flashes of light.

Bridge travelers will not be able to see crews at work but may hear the sounds. People nearby may see people on the bridge underdeck using the equipment and see birds scattering. The exact timing, frequency and techniques involved will be adjusted as the work proceeds and as staff learn more about how the cormorants respond. Crews may be seen on the bridges at night. The work will not interfere with river navigation.

The more than 8,000-bird cormorant population on the Astoria-Megler Bridge has doubled during the past decade, coating bridge sections with excrement and tightly spaced nests. This leaves bridge surfaces slippery and makes the biennial inspections more difficult. In addition, the excrement is corrosive and harmful to the protective paint. Painting the 4.1-mile bridge takes 12 years. Final phase work — recoating the deck trusses outside of the main span — began in September. The entire project began in 2016 and is scheduled for completion by the end of 2024.

Several hundred cormorants currently nest in the center span of the Yaquina Bay Bridge. The current protection and repair project will involve working in the center of the bridge this summer. As the birds leave the bridge, containment structures will be built.

Similar efforts were done on the Interstate Bridge in Portland to deter starlings damaging the structure with their droppings. Sound cannons and projectiles were set off on an irregular schedule so the birds would not become accustomed to the noise. The effort was successful and the cannons have not been needed recently, according to ODOT.

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By DAVID A. LIEB

The Associated Press

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – America’s roads are a lot less congested, due to coronavirus shutdowns that have kept millions of commuters, shoppers and vacationers parked at their homes.

While that makes it easier to patch potholes, it also could spell trouble for road and bridge projects. The longer motorists remain off the roads, the harder it will be for states to afford repairs in the months and years ahead.

Reduced traffic volumes are expected to cause a sharp drop in state revenue from fuel taxes, tolls and other user fees that could force delays for thousands of projects nationwide unless the federal government intervenes.

“This is a critical need at the national level,” said Patrick McKenna, president of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and director of Missouri’s transportation department.

Leaders of state transportation agencies have asked Congress for an immediate $50 billion to prevent major cuts to road and bridge projects over the next year and a half. As an economic stimulus, they also want Congress to authorize a long-term plan that doubles the amount of regular funding going to state transportation agencies.

The request comes as a majority of Americans are under government orders to remain home to try to slow the spread of the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease. For many people, the virus causes mild to moderate symptoms such as a fever or cough. But for some, especially older adults and those with existing health problems, it can lead to more severe illnesses and death.

A $2 trillion federal stimulus package enacted last month included billions of dollars for public transit systems, publicly owned commercial airports and Amtrak passenger train service – all of which have seen sharp declines in customers as a result of the coronavirus. But it earmarked nothing for state highways and bridges.

Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic House leaders have expressed support for a big infrastructure spending plan as part of another economic stimulus bill. But similar pronouncements in previous years have failed to produce results.

In the meantime, some road and bridge projects already have been put on hold.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation has slashed its expected construction projects from 131 down to 38 for the upcoming budget year, a $2 billion reduction.

Ohio has delayed projects until next year on interstate highways in Columbus and Cincinnati because of the expected decline in fuel tax revenue.

Faced with a budget shortfall, Missouri has postponed $46 million for 18 road and bridge projects that had been priorities for local governments. As many as 299 additional projects valued at $785 million could be at risk without federal help, McKenna said.

Among the immediate deferments: a new highway interchange to provide direct access to the expanded Ozarks Medical Center in West Plains. The center’s hospital, physician and specialty clinics are among the area’s largest employers, serving about 40,000 patients in eight rural counties of southern Missouri and northern Arkansas.

The state had allotted more than $1.2 million to cover half the road construction costs. The other half was to come from local transportation sales tax revenue, which also is down.

“We were hoping to bid it out for construction very soon, but then COVID-19 and all that, so that timeline is kind of in the air,” said West Plains Administrator Tom Stehn, a former state highway engineer. “It was a high priority for us.”

Though ambulances are running as usual and detours are well-marked for visitors, “obviously that direct interchange would be nice,” said Daniel Marshall, chief clinical officer for the South Howell County Ambulance District.

In Oregon, the city of Bend – the nation’s seventh-fastest growing metropolitan area over the past decade – pulled a $190 million transportation bond off the May ballot. Supporters had concerns about pushing a property tax hike for roads, sidewalks and bike lanes while local businesses are suffering financially and many residents are without work.

“They’re going to show up on voters’ day and just glance and think, ‘I’m not raising my taxes right now; no way!’” said Mike Riley, co-chairman of the Go Bend 2020 Coalition that supported the measure. “We’re going to come back to voters, but now just felt like the wrong time.”

Most states have classified road construction as essential work that can continue despite orders shutting down certain businesses. But some states have not.

Washington, site of the first coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., suspended work on 92 of its 100 active highway projects as a result of a stay-at-home order for most workers. The halted projects include major ones in Seattle and Spokane, as well as improvements to an Interstate 90 pass through an avalanche-prone area of the Cascade Mountains.

Vermont’s entire $200 million road construction plan for 2020 is on hold, save for a $6 million emergency repair where a storm washed out part of the foundation on Interstate 89.

The longer the delay, the greater the likelihood that some projects might not get finished this year.

“Every project is sort of at risk of running out of quality weather days to complete the work,” said Jeremy Reed, construction engineer for the state’s transportation agency.

Pennsylvania originally halted all road construction work. But it has since allowed work to proceed on 61 critical projects. About 800 road and bridge projects, at $7 billion, remain on hold.

By contrast, some states have taken advantage of a lull in traffic to speed up transportation projects. Construction crews have been able to shut down highway lanes during prime hours without causing major traffic backups.

Florida announced that it is accelerating work schedules by several weeks on about $2 billion worth of bridge and road projects.

In Maryland, a westbound lane of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge near Annapolis recently reopened to vehicles following repairs. The $27 million project was completed well ahead of schedule, partly because of light traffic amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The declining traffic volumes have been especially large in some of the nation’s most famously congested metropolitan areas, such as the San Francisco Bay Area.

Business leaders in the region had hoped to put a 1 cent sales tax on the November ballot that could raise $100 billion over 40 years for public transit and transportation projects in a nine-county region. But the coronavirus outbreak interrupted work on state legislation needed to place the measure on the ballot.

It now could be 2022, or even 2024, before supporters can make another push for a public vote on the measure, said John Grubb, chief operating officer of the Bay Area Council, a business-backed policy advocacy group.

“If we’re in a poor economy, which it looks like we’re going to be in, that would have been an awful lot of stimulus and an awful lot of job creation,” he said.

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The Oregon Department of Transportation last month began repaving a 12.4-mile stretch of Interstate 5 between Woodburn and Salem.

By BEN BOTKIN
Salem Statesman Journal

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The 2017 Oregon Legislature pumped $5.3 billion into the state’s highway system over the next decade — the largest transportation package in decades.

Today, 15 projects are under construction, funded by the legislation that created Keep Oregon Moving.
About 80 other projects are in different stages of planning, such as design work and obtaining rights of way, according to agency data examined by the Statesman Journal.

And even more projects will unfold as the funding legislation generates revenue in the years ahead.
By some measures, the Oregon Department of Transportation is doing well.

Roadwork and behind the scenes design have started on a handful of projects, including repaving I-5 from Salem to Woodburn. Other projects include upgrading or replacing bridges, fortifying highways against the threat of earthquakes and enhancing interchanges to reduce congestion.

And the agency is posting transparency metrics on a website so taxpayers can track the contracts in real time.

But advocates and agency officials alike warn it’s not nearly enough.

Oregon’s transportation system faces long-term challenges not included in the 2017 legislation.

More state bridges will need upgrades in the coming years. And rural roads continue to be a high-need area, especially for legislators representing districts outside Oregon’s urban areas.

The plan passed in 2017 had a fourfold aim: Preserving the existing system of roads and bridges; reducing congestion, particularly in the Portland-metro area; increasing transportation choices, such as mass transit and bicycle paths; and public accountability and transparency.

Here’s a look at what the plan has done so far, what’s ahead and what the state’s needs are.

Unmet bridge needs

Oregon’s infrastructure needs are highlighted on an industry report card released this month by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Despite Oregon’s planned investment in infrastructure, the state still received an overall grade of C-, a mediocre outcome that reflects the state’s long-term and unfunded needs in critical areas like bridges, roads, levees and wastewater.

The needs are heightened by an awareness that Oregon faces a 20% chance of a massive 9.0 magnitude earthquake in the Cascadia Subduction Zone, which puts older bridges at risk.

To put it in context, nearly 20% of Oregon’s 8,161 bridges and culverts are at risk of becoming structurally deficient in the near future, the report found. Bridge maintenance needs are expected to grow and require nearly three times the funding from House Bill 2017.

State transportation officials say Oregon needs to stay vigilant about the state’s needs, despite the benefits from HB2017.

“It truly is a race that probably doesn’t have a finish line,” ODOT Director Matt Garrett said at recent press event with the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Accountability measures

Oregonians are already starting to pay for the transportation improvements. A 10-cent gasoline tax is unfolding in four stages. It started with a 4-cent increase in 2018.

Three more 2-cent increases are slated for 2020, 2022 and 2024, provided the state meets accountability measures set by the law. Those include reporting information transparently to the public about project details, costs and schedules.

That work has already started, even though work on most of the road projects hasn’t started yet. The state launched its transparency, accountability and performance website in January, which is required by the state law.

“The public, media and stakeholders now have access for the first time ever to condition data on bridges and pavement in every single city and county in the state as well as for the state highway system,” said Travis Brouwer, assistant director of the Oregon Department of Transportation.

While each piece runs on a slightly different schedule, in a way, it’s all part of a broader plan, state officials said.

“We have taken this very seriously and really treated it like a transportation highway project in terms of having a project plan and deliverables and due dates,” Brouwer said.

Dollars can change

The public also can see if a project has come in below or above its budget.

That could easily become a factor with the planned Center Street bridge between west Salem and downtown, which may cost about $100 million for seismic upgrades instead of the $40 million lawmakers budgeted in 2017.

“If one project comes in under budget, we can ship that money to another project in the region,” Brouwer said.

At this point, there aren’t any major delays anticipated, state officials said.

That can change, if the state’s past performance is any indication. Data from state transportation projects in 2018 show about 80 percent of nearly 100 projects were completed on time.

The bridge construction could start in 2024 and other projects are spaced out even further into the future.

Interstate 5 paving

Elsewhere, there are visible signs of work.

Road crews began work last month on a 12.4-mile stretch of Interstate 5 between Woodburn and Salem.
The interstate has ruts in vehicle wheel paths that put motorists at a risk of hydroplaning in rainy weather, transportation officials say.

Paving began northbound from Brooks to Woodburn.

Nightly lane closures are expected between Sunday evenings and Friday mornings. One lane can be closed between 7 p.m. and 9 a.m. A second lane can be shut down between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., giving motorists delays of up to 30 minutes.

During the lane closures, motorists can still travel north and south.

Work on the $17 million project is expected to last through October.

Upcoming Salem-area projects

Most of the work is on the horizon, including in the Salem area.

For example, design work starts this year for a project that will widen Interstate 5 between Keubler Boulevard in south Salem and the Delaney Road interchange to relieve congestion on the southbound side.

Construction work is due to start in 2021 on the $35.4 million project and includes replacing a bridge over the Commercial Street northbound off-ramp and reconstruction of the southbound Commercial Street on-ramp and thee southbound Delaney Road ramps to get on and off the interstate.

In 2020, construction will start on a nearly $9 million project that adds sidewalks and bicycle lanes on Oregon 214 in Silverton between Smith Street and Pioneer Drive.

Small-scale projects are in the pipeline too. Pedestrian safety improvements are planned at the intersection of Oregon 214 and Jefferson Street in Silverton.

The $750,000 project will have a pedestrian island, flashing beacon and lights. It’s expected to go out for a bid late this year, with construction in 2020.

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Multnomah County is looking for volunteers to serve on a community task force that will provide important input during the environmental study phase of the Earthquake Ready Burnside Bridge project.

The county is wrapping up a feasibility study intended to narrow more than 100 bridge replacement and rehabilitation options to a short list. The environmental study phase will end with selection of the preferred alternative.

Task force members will serve for three years, with meetings on weekday evenings approximately every two to three months in a central location convenient to transit. Meetings will start in October.

The Burnside Bridge provides a key connection between downtown Portland and the Central Eastside across the Willamette River. Burnside Street/Road is a regionally designated “lifeline” route that runs from Washington County east into Gresham.

The county is looking for a diverse group of task force volunteers who use the Burnside Bridge. Candidates could include bicyclists, business owners, commercial drivers, emergency service providers, pedestrians, people with disabilities, Willamette River users, social service providers or transit riders. No professional design experience is required.

Interested parties are encouraged to complete an  by the end of Friday, Aug. 17. Applicants can also complete a hard copy of the application and return it via mail to Multnomah County’s Communications Office at 501 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd., Portland, OR, 97214. For more information, call 503-209-4111 or visit .

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Bridge construction may take a big seismic step forward if a new span in Seattle performs as expected.

“I think over time this could become one of the more common methods of resisting earthquakes,” said Tom Baker, an engineer with the Washington State Department of Transportation.

The , which serves as an exit ramp from State Route 99 into downtown Seattle, involves using shape-memory alloy (SMA) bars in the columns and engineered cementitious composite (commonly called bendable concrete) in the road surface. The combination should, in theory, allow the bridge to snap back into shape after a major earthquake.

“It’s the first of its type in the world,” Baker said of the bridge.

Traditionally, bridges have been built to simply remain standing after an earthquake. Even if a bridge has been damaged beyond repair from a seismic event, the absence of a collapse is considered a success.

Then a professor of civil engineering at the University of Nevada-Reno, M. “Saiid” Saiidi, came up with an idea that should allow bridges to not just survive a quake but be usable almost immediately afterward.

“I accidentally heard about this smart memory alloy that can absorb energy,” he said. “It was used in the form of small mechanical devices in mechanical engineering. I thought, what if I brought this into bridge material?”

Saiidi said that the materials helped address two major problems with traditional bridge design, which focuses on strength and diverting energy away from the span. First, while the bridge may be left standing after a quake, it is often tilting to one side. The second problem is that columns tend to fall apart. Either issue means the structure has to be shut down for repairs or replacement that can take weeks or months.

After nearly 15 years of design work and testing, the concept was deemed ready for its first use in Seattle. The SMA bars are used in the top five feet of the two middle columns, where most of the stress occurs during a quake. The bottom two-thirds of the columns are built with standard materials. The high-fiber bendable concrete is then poured on top of the SMA bars.

“What made us try a field trial was the success of Dr. Saiidi’s laboratory work,” Baker said. “We wanted to get a full-size test.”

A lot will be learned by how the structure performs in the real world after surviving simulated quakes of magnitude 8 or more in a laboratory.

“A couple things we will learn,” Baker said. First, “how it will work without an earthquake. If we do have a quake, how well it will perform compared to its performance in the lab.”

A major issue that could hinder widespread use is cost. A $400,000 grant from the federal government covered most of the added costs of the 400-foot expanse, which has cost the city and the state $4.8 million so far. The project is part of the much larger $3.1 billion Alaskan Way Viaduct program.

Saiidi said that he and researchers in Japan have been working to develop a next generation of materials that could bring the costs down.

“We have worked on smaller bars, but they are not something you can use in a bridge,” he said. “The latest developments in Japan have used bigger-diameter bars that could be used in bridges.”

Outside of Washington, the Japanese have shown the most interest in the new technology. Others in the U.S., including Multnomah County officials, are beginning to show interest.

“It is so new that it wasn’t considered for the Sellwood Bridge (replacement),” said Mike Pullen, Multnomah County spokesman. “We are definitely interested in learning more about what they learn in Seattle.”

The county maintains six area bridges. It is looking into major repairs for at least three of them – including the Burnside and the Morrison bridges – in the near future.

“We will definitely look at it in the future,” Pullen said.

He said that the current standard the county uses when designing bridges to resist earthquakes is to ensure service restoration within 48 hours. Most bridges in the area are designed to drive the force of an earthquake away from the span instead of trying to bend and snap back into shape.

The Seattle bridge’s performance will be observed by many interested parties.

“We applaud our neighbors in the north for trying something new to withstand earthquakes,” Pullen said.

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