Woodburn Independent Online

When will it end?

Work in downtown Woodburn continues, but city officials say road construction will end by mid-November

• By: Jason Horton  
• Published: 10/4/2009 9:25:39 AM

Photo By: Jason HortonA big project
Construction along Front Street goes from Cleveland Street all the way through downtown and up to the Highway 214 overpass.

WOODBURN — There is light at the end of the Front Street improvement project tunnel. The project, which began this summer at a $5.5 million cost, was originally scheduled to be finished Oct. 15, but Public Works Director Dan Brown said that has been pushed back one month.

“We’re about a month behind right now. We found a lot of unforeseen problems … old trolley lines and elevator shafts under the sidewalks,” he said.

Brown said in the old days businesses used elevators from the street to take freight down to the basements and new sidewalks had been laid over them.

“We didn’t know they were there,” he said. “We had to go back and make them strong enough to support a fire truck to park on the sidewalk. That was a big problem ... and we had an aggressive schedule, so being a month behind isn’t a big surprise.”

He said the project will be 100 percent complete in mid- to late-January, 2010. However, it will be “substantially complete” by Nov. 15.

“The streets and sidewalks will be done and pedestrians will be able to move around (by Nov. 15),” Brown said. “Final completion is when all the amenities are done and we can dedicate it.”

Brown also said the project has not gone over budget.

“We’re very fortunate to still be within budget,” he said. “Part of how we are doing that is keeping cost first and foremost when there are modifications that have to be done.”

Pushing the project out one month also won’t be an issue with the weather. He said temperature, over rain, is the biggest issue.

“Temperature is the main concern (with asphalt) and we put the base course — that means the first level of asphalt —  from Harrison Street south Friday.”

The asphalt on Front Street north of Harrison will come next, but part of that section had to be raised 10 feet. Also, he said no homeowners were denied access to their homes.

“We have to modify some of the driveways, but fortunately not until later. No one has been kept in or out … we have always provided a way for them to get in, even if we’ve had to put down a plate or something,” he said. “The biggest dip was in front of the park and we put in a big wall and filled in behind that.”

Brown also praised the downtown businesses who have been inconvenienced by the project.

“I think the businesses in town have been heroic in how they have dealt with this,” he said. “They haven’t complained much and if we have been in their way, we have tried to adjust and everyone has stepped up and made this process smooth.”

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