Woodburn Independent Online

I-5 interchange: Work could begin in 2013

• By: Rachel Cavanaugh  
• Published: 1/26/2010 1:06:41 PM

Photo By: Rachel CavanaughAlan Fox
Alan Fox, of the Oregon Department of Transportation, gave an update to Woodburn businessmen and women last week.

WOODBURN — Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) officials have begun talks with businesses to be impacted by the I-5 interchange project.
 
Among others, KFC, located in the Woodburn Crossing Shopping Center, has been contacted about the possible relocation of its franchise.
 
According to ODOT Project Manager Alan Fox, it is unclear if KFC would move to a location close by or to a different part of town.
 
“We know that that building is going to be severely impacted,” said Fox. “Approximately half the building would have to be demolished (if it stayed there).”
 
There is a possibility, Fox said, that KFC could stay on the same lot, but simply rebuild its restaurant farther out to the north. That option would involve a total reconstruction.
 
Fox said KFC management has so far been cooperative with ODOT during early discussion stages. Fox has also been in contact with the landowner of the lot KFC sits on.
 
He said the restaurant was planning a remodel anyway and, if it stays, may be able to time it with the ODOT project.
 
Once complete, Highway 214 will be widened to five lanes, as part of the I-5 interchange update.
 
Fox said the goal is for construction to begin in early 2013. Projects of its kind generally take a couple years to complete, although Fox emphasized individual businesses are not affected the entire time.
 
Businesses in the immediate area include the Chevron gas station, McDonald’s, the 76 gas and service station, West Coast Bank, Fairway Drug, Wells Fargo, Dairy Queen and AM/PM gas. Fox noted it’s still unclear if any of those would need to move or be affected.
 
Fox said ODOT sent letters to 150 business owners in the area, including many at the Woodburn Company Stores, but have only received response so far from eight.
 
For those that did respond, he called the first round of the discussions “very successful.”
 
Ordinarily, he said, ODOT wouldn’t contact business owners this early, but a long acquisition period is expected.
 
“Normally, we don’t start acquiring right-of-way or working with business owners until after we have an approved footprint plan for the project,” said Fox.
 
“I’ve received permission to accelerate that process and start working with some businesses that need relocation prior to that footprint being approved.
 
“The project is on a fast-track. It takes a long time to work with a business in a situation like that. … We want to have them relocated prior to starting construction.”
 
The idea of the interchange project is to make the ramps and other areas surrounding Interstate 5 safer and more efficient.
 
The area was designed in the 1960s when Woodburn was still a “small, rural town,” Fox said, which is part of why they are currently experiencing problems.
 
Traffic issues are particularly illustrated near the company stores, especially on big shopping days.
 
“The problem starts in the Woodburn Company Stores parking lot with people slowing down and stopping to wait for spaces or they can’t get out,” Fox said. “It backs up all the way out to the freeway.
 
Fox stressed, however, that even once the project is complete, there will still be congestion on weeks when major events like the Tulip Festival are taking place.
 
“It won’t completely get rid of the backup,” he said. “I can’t say that enough to people.
 
“It’s really important that people understand the project will improve the normal traffic, but there’s no way we can design a project to accommodate that volume of traffic generated by those special events.”
 
Some key improvements include adding loop ramps, lengthening interchange ramps, widening the bridge, widening Highway 214, improving local street connections, adding medians and buffers, separating bicycle traffic, and improving pedestrian facilities. The project also includes a $10 million transit facility.
 
In addition to added efficiency, work is expected to improve safety, Fox said, noting how three Woodburn intersections fall within the top 10 percent of ODOT’s worst crash locations in the state.
 
“We expect that those kinds of collisions will decrease, so safety will improve,” Fox said. “General mobility, that is, the flow of traffic, will improve.”
 
At the moment, about 75 percent of the funding has been secured through the city of Woodburn, ODOT, Oregon House Bill 2001 and State Transportation Improvement (STIP) funds.
 
Officials still need between $25 million and $30 million of the $90.8 million forecast in cost estimates.
 
ODOT has also applied for a federal TIGER grant (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery), a stimulus program designed to fund large projects in economically depressed areas. However, Fox said he isn’t optimistic about the money.
 
“I don’t think our chances of getting it are very good,” said Fox. “We worked on it very hard and we’re hopeful but there were over $50 billion worth of applications received with $1.5 billion available.
 
“I’d say the things … in our favor are that the project is on I-5, which is an interstate highway and we qualify as an economically distressed area. If we get the grant, it’s largely because of those factors.”
 
They’ve also applied for a federal earmark that would be available in the next transportation bill.
 
Fox noted that preliminary cost estimates are sometimes low.
 
Once project officials get to the next stage of design, they will have a more concrete idea of costs.
 
Right now, they are working on development and permitting, which they hope to have done by 2012, about half the time it would normally take, he said.
 
He expects a preliminary draft in late February or early March of this year.
 
In March, ODOT will have another round of meetings with business owners.
 
He said it is important to residents to understand the scope of the project.
 
“We’re going to have to do quite a bit of work to Oregon Highway 214, as well as the interchange,” said Fox.
 
“Everybody is going to be impacted. The whole city is going to be impacted one way or another because … there will be lane restrictions and flagging and all that kind of stuff.
 
“Traffic will not be interrupted but it will definitely be slower in some places and at different times.”
 
Fox said his goal this week was to make a call to Woodburn City Council for support.

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