city news
january18
2018
Green Bridge Scheduled for Repairs in 2021
improvement document that identifies
funding for, and scheduling of, statewide
transportation projects.
“We do have a project that is
planned and funded in the STIP for the
Vernonia bridge over the Nehalem Riv-
er,” said Lou Torres, a spokesperson for
ODOT. “We will be trying to add life to
the bridge and try to keep it structurally
sound.”
Current estimates, according to
the STIP, call for Preliminary Engineer-
ing and Right of Way work for the Green
Bridge to happen in 2018, with actual
construction work to take place in 2021.
The total budget for the project is $1.68
million. The project includes the remov-
al of pack rust, replacement of bolts and
rivets, and painting of the structure.
“We don’t have any plans to re-
place the bridge at this time,” said Tor-
res. “That is a very old bridge, built
back in the 1930s, and is what we con-
sider ‘functionally obsolete,’ meaning
it’s very difficult, to almost impossible,
to get parts we would need to do major
repairs. They don’t build bridges like
that anymore. Our goal is to add as many
years to its life as we can before we have
to replace it, because it will be very ex-
pensive when we do.”
“The Green Bridge was on the
state STIP in 2005-2007 for replacement
and then after the flood it disappeared
from the list,” said former Mayor Har-
rison. “With that history, ODOT’s plans
are obviously not engraved in stone.”
Harrison says she and Verno-
nia City Administrator Josette Mitchell
have met with Columbia County Com-
missioner Alex Tardiff and County Parks
Department staff to discuss a combined
effort to replace the bridge and include a
crossing for the CZ Linear Trail, a coun-
ty bike, pedestrian and equestrian trail
that runs from Scappoose to just outside
Vernonia; the final connection of the CZ
Trail to the Banks-Vernonia State Trail
and a way to cross the Nehalem River
has yet to be designed. Harrison says
she has also been in contact with State
Senator Betsy Johnson, asking for assis-
tance in getting the bridge replaced.
Harrison also raised concerns
about the danger of the intersection on
the north side of the bridge, which has
been the scene of multiple accidents dur-
ing the last several years. “The signs
there have been knocked down three
times in the last year,” said Harrison.
“Do we have to wait for a fatality before
they do something?”
On January 11, Harrison and
Mitchell made a presentation to regional
ODOT representatives in an attempt to
convince ODOT that the Green Bridge
should just be replaced. Following the
meeting Harrison said the meeting went
well and that the ODOT people were in-
terested in learning more about the con-
dition of the structure and the need to
replace the bridge.
According to the ODOT’s 2017
Bridge Condition Report, A bridge
rated Structurally Deficient by the Fed-
eral Highway Administration indicates
deteriorated physical conditions of the
bridge’s structural elements (primarily
deck, superstructure, and substructure)
and reduced load capacity. Some of
these bridges are posted and may require
trucks of a certain weight to detour. A
classification of Structurally Deficient
does not imply that bridges are unsafe.
Structural deficiency is one of the many
factors that are used in the ODOT State
Bridge Program for project ranking or
selection.
House Bill (HB) 2017, the
transportation funding package
passed by the Oregon Legislature
last year, will provided funding to
Reports Taken
• January 5, 2018 Report of Stolen
Vehicle Recovery on Nehalem HWY S
• January 12, 2018 Report of Unlawful
Entry of a Motor Vehicle near State Ave.
Citation/Other
• January 1, 2018 Cited for Operating a
Vehicle While Using a Communication
Device near Rose Ave.
• January 7, 2018 Cited for Violation of
The Vernonia
Transfer Station
is scheduled to
be open on the
2nd and 4th Saturday
January - October
8:00 am - 2:00 pm
the Posted Speed near Rose Ave.
• January 10, 2018 Cited for Violation of
the Basic Rule 50 mph in a 35 mph near
Nehalem HWY S
January 27
February 10 & 24
Vernonia Police Department responds
to calls that do not always end in
Arrest, Report, or Citation. 01/01/2018
through 01/16/2018 VPD had 105 calls
for service.
Dates and times are subject
to change due to weather
DM
braces for the possibility of a major
earthquake. ODOT’s Bridge Condition
Report states, Oregon’s aging bridge
network has a number of vulnerabilities,
with many bridges beginning to reach
the end of their design life. Oregon also
has bridges built before modern seis-
mic standards that will likely collapse
or become unusable in an earthquake.
Old timber bridges need regular repair,
and coastal bridges need special treat-
ment to withstand constant exposure to
salt in the environment. ODOT’s bud-
get prioritizes bridge preservation and
maintenance to keep these bridges open
to traffic, reducing impacts to businesses
and communities.
ODOT has also developed a
seismic strategy that will invest in re-
placing or retrofitting vulnerable bridg-
es in phases. The first part of the first
phase, which will secure U.S. 97 and
Oregon 58 so that relief supplies can get
into the state and across the Cascades
into the Willamette Valley, has been
funded. A triage route that will ensure
southern Oregon is accessible was also
funded by HB 2017, and ODOT expects
to make continued progress on seismic
resilience as a result of the investments
made by HB 2017.
“We always have to look at what
funding is available so we stretch it as
far as we can and look at what we can
do to add as much life as we can to these
structures,” says Torres.
“I don’t think putting lipstick on
that pig is going to help,” said Harrison
about the Green Bridge. “Eventually
they’re going to have to replace it. Why
invest money in cosmetic repairs now?”
Vernonia City Council
Meetings and Closures
City Council Meetings
are scheduled for 7:00 pm:
Monday, February 5, 2018
Tuesday, February 20, 2018
City Closures
are scheduled for:
Monday, February 19, 2018
Presidents’ Day
Dates and times subject to change
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help maintain current conditions and
prevent more bridges from falling into
poor condition. HB 2017 provides ad-
ditional funding to ensure that dete-
riorating bridges on Oregon’s highest
priority routes can be addressed before
they impede mobility or force trucks
to detour. ODOT’s economic analysis
found that when bridges are weight-lim-
ited - meaning they can no longer carry
heavy trucks due to structural problems
- it becomes more expensive to get prod-
ucts from Oregon’s farms, forests and
factories to market. This, in turn, makes
Oregon’s trade-dependent economy less
competitive.
Torres says the process to make
the repairs at the Green Bridge will most
likely include erecting environmental
protections, including an encasement
to keep old paint and rust from falling
into the river. He says he believes the
bridge will not have to be closed dur-
ing the construction process. “I don’t
know what the traffic control plan is for
this project, because it’s still pretty early
in process, but I doubt it will involve a
complete closure. We’ll probably have
some periodic single lane closures with
flaggers. We know it’s a lifeline road
that people depend on, commerce uses
it, and emergency responders depend on
it.”
Harrison says that if a case can
be made that Vernonia’s Green Bridge is
structurally unsafe, federal funds could
be used to pay for a large percentage of
the replacement costs.
Seismic vulnerability for Or-
egon’s roads and bridges is also a ma-
jor concern, as the Pacific Northwest
Police Blotter • January 1-16, 2018
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