Woodburn Independent Online

ODOT official says 99E changes will add work to Hubbard

• By: Rachel Cavanaugh  
• Published: 2/23/2010 10:25:06 AM

HUBBARD — The compromise the Hubbard City Council came to for its Highway 99E sidewalk project will involve additional maintenance, according to highway officials.
 
The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) project, which has changed several times since its original proposal, now involves building a sidewalk over the existing ditch along the highway.
 
The idea is to make the area safer for pedestrians. ODOT project leader Candice Stich said with the recent changes, the city will be responsible for upkeep.
 
“Now you’re introducing a lot of pipes that need to be maintained,” she said.
 
Along with pipes comes manholes, which will need to be cleaned out and other maintenance issues.
 
However, she stressed the solution seems to fit everybody’s needs.
 
“It seems pretty straightforward and it seems like a bit of maintenance that they don’t mind taking on,” Stich said.
 
She did note, however, that the design doesn’t conform to the city’s Transportation Systems Plan (TSP) and could be disregarded if there were to be redevelopment or highway expansion within the improvement areas.
 
Under the current proposal, the sidewalk is designed to sit above drain rock with two pipes below the sidewalk. There will still be a small ditch between the proposed sidewalk and the highway shoulder.
 
When ODOT initially presented the project, the proposal was to put the sidewalk on the side of the ditch, which would have involved widening the highway by 10 feet on each side.
 
But councilors protested the move, arguing that it would have forced right-of-way acquisition on multiple businesses and property owners.
 
After months of stalling, ODOT and the Hubbard council came to the recent compromise and Stich presented the final design to council Feb. 9.
 
The council authorized her to move forward.
 
She said the project will now move through final approvals, estimating construction could begin later this year.
 
“We’ve come up with a design (and) we feel good about the design to move forward,” said Stich.
 
“This is a win-win. … We’re able to work through some of the maintenance and operational challenges by going into this intergovernmental agreement with the city of Hubbard, so I think we were all able to clear the concerns of each of the agencies,” Stich said.

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