Highway 18 Partially Re-Opened Tuesday

ODOT will use flaggers and a pilot car through Wednesday and into Thursday while attempting to remove about 80 log truck loads of downed timber

Salem-News.com

(GRANDE RONDE) - The Oregon Department of Transportation opened one lane of Highway 18 at about 5:30 PM Tuesday, allowing alternating two-way traffic controlled by flaggers and a pilot car.

ODOT crews and a specialty tree-felling contractor finished dropping trees that were leaning precariously toward the highway at about noon on Tuesday.

ODOT will continue using flaggers and a pilot car through Wednesday and into Thursday while the logs are moved from the highway to a location in Willamina, about 15 miles to the east.

Crews will work through Tuesday and Wednesday night in an effort to reopen the highway without restrictions as soon as possible.

Motorists should expect delays of 20 minutes or less.

Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski praised the ODOT crews and the other state and local authorities who have responded to the weather-caused emergency that closed the road.

“I’m proud of all the dedicated public employees who have worked so hard to re-open Oregon 18,” the Governor said. “The public can take heart that these dedicated people are on the job.”

The section of Highway 18 between U.S. 101 at Otis Junction and Grande Ronde has been closed since early Monday after more than 100 trees fell across the highway due to high winds and rain-saturated soil.

The flagging operation will encompass a half-mile section of the highway at milepost 16, about 4 miles west of Grande Ronde. This is the area where the bulk of trees came down.

On Monday, ODOT crews removed some of the trees initially, but then had to call in a professional tree-felling company to take down the large trees leaning toward the road.

The so-called danger trees could come down without warning, or fall across the highway during the wind storm expected Tuesday night.

Given the treacherous nature of the danger trees, the tree fellers used a mechanical harvester to remove any standing timber that could come down during the next storm event.

Even with the 20-minute delays due to the one-lane traffic restriction, Highway 18 remains the quickest route to U.S. 101.

Motorists had been using Oregon 22 between Valley Junction and Hebo as a detour.