Oregon Department of Transportation begins repairs on bundle of

Daily Journal of Commerce (Portland, OR), Aug 6, 2008 by Libby Tucker

The Oregon Department of Transportation this week began what will be a four-year effort to repair or replace 16 bridges in the Columbia River Gorge. On Monday, Wildish Standard Paving Co. began work to replace two 1960s-era freeway bridges and repair five more between Cascade Locks and Hood River.

Bridge construction under the $1.3 billion Oregon Transportation Investment Act of 2003 will reach its peak this year in Oregon, with all bridge bundles scheduled for completion by 2012.

The gorge bridges represent the most challenging bridge repairs to come out of the OTIA funding package.

"The gorge in itself presents some unique weather challenges. Wintertime can be very wet, especially at Cascade Locks, and the wind always blows one way or another there," said Ryan Elliott, a project manager with Wildish. "You can't pave, and it's hard to do earth work when it's real wet out. We're trying to get much of that earth work out of the way."

Work on the gorge bridges begins near the one-year anniversary of the Interstate 35W bridge collapse in Minnesota that drew national attention to the country's aging bridges. Twenty percent of the nation's 600,000 bridges are more than 50 years old, and repairing or replacing them will cost about $140 billion, according to a study released last week by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.

ODOT says Oregon has a head start on its repairs with OTIA projects such as those in the gorge.

"What Oregon has done the last five or six years is catch the problem before it becomes critical," said Steve Narkiewicz, a project manager for ODOT. "We're in the middle of a program to do what they're now trying to start in other areas across the country."

More than 300 Oregon bridges will be repaired or replaced under OTIA III. But a 2007 analysis by the Federal Highway Administration after the Minnesota collapse revealed that 1,669 bridges in Oregon are structurally deficient or obsolete.

ODOT will repair or replace 16 bridges in the Columbia River Gorge in a series of three bridge bundles over the next four years. All of the bridges contain cracks or other structural deficiencies that don't put them in immediate danger of collapsing but over time reduce the ability to carry heavy traffic, said Narkiewicz.

"At some point if they weren't repaired or replaced, we would have to limit loads," said Narkiewicz, who's overseeing all of the bridge bundles in the gorge.

Work began last week at Cascade Locks over a freeway ramp from Highway 30. Wildish crews are preparing the area to build a detour bridge that will reroute westbound traffic while subcontractor Staton Co. tears down the old bridge.

The old 1960s-era concrete bridge will give way to a new pre- cast decorative concrete structure with an architectural treatment that will make the standard box girder look like an arch bridge. Pre- cast concrete panels will hang off both sides of the bridge from the box beams, creating an arch under the bridge.

"We're definitely making it a lot prettier than it is now," said Elliott. "When you drive underneath it, it'll look like a parks bridge."

Installing the 20 panels, which fit together like a jigsaw puzzle, will be one of the most technically challenging jobs, said Elliott. Fabricator Knife River Corp. will truck the panels to the site in sections up to 18 feet tall and 6 feet wide where workers will install them with a crane or a forklift.

Construction on the new westbound bridge at Cascade Locks is scheduled to begin this fall, and Wildish workers will use the same process to replace the eastbound bridge once they can divert traffic across the new bridge. The contractor expects both bridges to be complete within two years.

At the same time, Wildish will work to strengthen five more bridges between Cascade Locks and Hood River. The repairs will include shear anchors, fiber wrap and post-tensioning to shore up the aging structures against heavy loads and earthquakes.

The Wildish project is a "warm-up" for future bridge bundles in the gorge, said Narkiewicz."They give us a sense of what it's like to work in the gorge and to see the public reaction," he said.

The gorge's designation as a national scenic area increases environmental considerations for bridge construction and adds another layer of design considerations not necessary for other ODOT projects. The bridges must have minimal environmental and aesthetic impact to meet the permitting requirements set by the Columbia River Gorge Commission.