January 23, 2009

City answers concerns over East Gateway

By RODGER NICHOLS
of The Chronicle


     The City of The Dalles took the unusual step Wednesday of issuing a press release about a construction project that likely won’t take place until the fall.
     The project in question is the conversion of the traffic intersection at the foot of Brewery Grade into a roundabout.
     “Normally we wouldn’t release a press release this early, until the plan for how we were going to handle issues was further developed,” said City Manager Nolan Young.
     “However,” he added, “there have been some concerns expressed by property owners and that has resulted in a letter being sent among businesses that has caused some confusion.”
     Young said the city wanted to help clear up the confusion and explain what avenues might be available to help resolve any concerns they may have.
     “The plan has not been developed yet,” Young said. “We do want to minimize negative impact, but we also need to get the job done.”
     Here’s how the city put it in the release:
     “The City of The Dalles is currently in the engineering phase of the East Gateway/Brewery Grade Streetscape project. The preliminary engineering plans, which are about 90 percent complete, have been submitted by the city’s consulting engineers for review and mark-up. The plans are being reviewed by the City and Oregon Department of Transportation engineers. The earliest target date for the start of construction is now late summer to early fall 2009. The bidding process and construction management will be through the Oregon Department of Transportation.
     “Part of the preliminary engineering work will include a construction staging and detour plan. This plan is currently under consideration. It is the city’s intent to minimize the time that the intersection is under construction, helping to keep the construction costs from increasing, but at the same time making every attempt to reduce traffic disruption. However, for a project this size, traffic disruption cannot be avoided
     “At all times during construction, traffic will be allowed to move east or west along E 2nd Street (Highway 30) from the Brewery Grade/Marina overpass to Highway 197, over the Brewery Grade/Marina overpass in both directions, and through downtown along 2nd and 3rd Streets, west from Taylor Street.
     A key piece of the release is that, once a construction staging and detour plan is in reviewable form, “The city will schedule a public meeting to discuss the plan and get feedback. A final plan will then be completed.”
     Young said that plan should be finished in the next few months.
     “It will somewhat be driven by the Oregon Department of Transportation’s review of the current plan,” he said. “It could be impacted by whether or not this could become an economic stimulus project. Young said the city had pretty much identified the roundabout as its number one priority for the community as an economic stimulus project.
     “If that happens, things will move forward, Young added. “The plan should be finalized in the next couple of months. If not, we still have some fundraising to do.”
     Young noted that it would likely be fall before the city can get to the project, which would bypass the busy cherry harvest and summer tourists season.
     “Any time you disrupt a primary access corridor to businesses or that people routinely travel, there are concerns,” Young concluded. “However, much like the Biggs Bridge, which recently had some long closures, you have to do some things to get a project done. We’re going to try to balance the issue of not negatively impacting businesses or inconveniencing the public with the need to get the project done in a cost-efficient manner. In doing that, we’ll probably lose a little cost-efficiency, and create a little more disruption than people would like, but we’re going to try to balance this and come up with a good mix.”