TUESDAY, JULY 27, 2021
BAKER CITY HERALD — A3
LOCAL & STATE
REPAVING 3.5 MILES OF FREEWAY NEAR MEACHAM
I-84 paving project progresses
By Dick Mason
The (La Grande) Observer
MEACHAM — Road work
being conducted on Interstate
84 between Meacham and
Spring Creek this summer is
a tale of fi re and ice.
Oregon Department of
Transportation crews and
workers contracted by the
state agency are laboring
under the blazing summer
sun while doing paving work
designed to make driving in
icy winter conditions safer.
They are doing 3 1/2
miles of road restoration on
Interstate 84 this summer as
part of a $39 million, two-year,
10-mile project during which
ODOT will replace the road-
way’s surface up to milepost
248 near Kamela, 13 miles
northwest of La Grande.
Tom Strandberg, an ODOT
spokesperson, said the work
is necessary because severe
winter weather and heavy use
of tire chains have rutted the
roadway’s asphalt surface.
“This creates hazardous
driving conditions when
water, snow and ice collect in
the ruts, cracks and potholes,”
he said.
The westbound and east-
bound lanes for slow traffi c,
now made of asphalt, are be-
ing rebuilt with concrete and
the fast lanes are receiving
new asphalt.
Strandberg said concrete,
which is longer lasting than
asphalt, is the best fi t for the
slow lanes because they have
such heavy truck traffi c.
“The slow lanes receive the
most punishment,” he said.
Medical Springs Rural Fire Protection District/Contributed Photo
The Medical Springs Rural Fire Protection District
has received a $9,400 grant from the Wildhorse
Foundation to replaced old tires on three trucks.
Fire district gets
grant to replace
outdated tires
Alex Wittwer/The (La Grande) Observer
Employees with Knife River Corp. lay asphalt along a stretch of road between Spring
Creek and Meacham on Interstate 84 on Wednesday, July 14, 2021.
Concrete is more expensive
than asphalt but the extra
cost is worth it, Strandberg
said, because it holds up
better.
“Asphalt lasts 10 to 15
years but concrete can last at
least 35 years,” Strandberg
said.
The work being done in
the I-84 Meacham to Ka-
mela project is having a major
impact on traffi c because the
entire westbound portion is
now closed.
While the two westbound
lanes are being restored, the
two parallel eastbound lanes
have traffi c traveling in op-
posite directions.
“It is essentially a two-lane
highway,” Strandberg said.
Cones have been installed
to divide the two lanes of traf-
fi c. The speed limit is being
reduced from 70 to 50 mph in
the work zone of the project
to protect travelers and those
working at the site.
The Oregon State Police,
working in cooperation with
ODOT, have an increased
presence at the work zone
to discourage people from
speeding through it.
The OSP’s presence is
highest during time periods
when many people are work-
ing at the site, said OSP Lt.
Dan Conner. He said visibly
parked police cars, or ones
with fl ashing lights where an
offi cer has pulled someone
over, slow motorists passing
through the work zone.
ODOT project engineer
Mike Remily said the OSP’s
help is boosting safety.
“We really appreciate their
presence,” he said. “They do
an awesome job.”
Strandberg urges drivers
to slow down on this stretch
to reduce the likelihood of an
accident. He believes more
drivers are tempted to exceed
the speed limit because they
are anxious to get rolling
after being homebound for so
long during the COVID-19
pandemic.
The ODOT spokesperson
encourages people who plan
to drive west on I-84 to plan
ahead so they have plenty of
time to reach their destina-
tion.
“This will prevent them
from becoming frustrated
and anxious when driving
through the work zone,”
Strandberg said.
Crews working on the
Meacham-Kamela project will
be paving the eastbound lanes
from Meacham to milepost
241.5. Traffi c will be switched
to the newly paved westbound
lanes, which will then tempo-
rarily become a two-lane high-
way with vehicles traveling in
opposite directions.
Remily said having the
eastbound and westbound
lanes paved at separate times
helps crews.
Paving work for the
Meacham-Kamela project,
which is being funded pri-
marily with federal gas tax
money, will continue this year
through October and then
start again in spring 2022.
avenues including grants, gifts, partner-
ships and debt,” according to the outline.
“The District is at the early stages of this
process, but it is expected that there will
be a need to act very quickly to make this
happen.”
The district is asking property owners
within the district for donations to help
with a down payment.
The 23rd Street property, which is
south of Oregon Trail Electric Coopera-
tive’s headquarters, is owned by Springer
Development LLC of Walla Walla, Wash-
ington, a real estate company. Banner
Bank is listed as a member of the corpo-
ration, according to the Oregon Secretary
of State’s Corporation Division.
The district is working with four
fi nancing companies, and it estimates
it will need to borrow between $350,000
and $620,000 to acquire the 23rd Street
building.
campfi res, chain saw use,
smoking outside enclosed
vehicles and driving motor
vehicles off road.
“The extreme fi re danger
this early in the fi re season
necessitated our decision to
close Starkey to overnight
ends in fi ve years “and there are signifi -
cant obstacles to renewing,” according to
Continued from Page A1
the outline.
Councilors considered the proposal dur-
District offi cials recently started
ing their July 13 meeting. They supported searching for a new location, with the
the project but didn’t commit any money. expectation that the process would take
City Manager Jonathan Cannon said he three to fi ve years, and that building a
was looking into possible options for the
new fi re station would cost about $2.2
money, including COVID-19 federal aid.
million, according to the outline.
County commissioners reviewed the
The 23rd Street property, which
district’s proposal during their Wednes-
includes a 7,500-square-foot building con-
day, July 21 meeting, and they approved structed in 2008, is an attractive option
moving forward with the idea but without because it’s much less expensive than
any commitment from the county.
what the district was expecting to spend
The county’s attorney will review the
for a new fi re station.
terms proposed by the district.
The outline the district gave to county
According to the written outline that
commissioners includes a listing from
Rob Gaslin supplied to commissioners on Sunfi re Real Estate in Baker City
behalf of the district, the primary fi re sta- putting the price for the property at
tion, on Pocahontas Road between West
$720,000.
Campbell Loop and Washington Gulch
“The District is attempting to secure
Road, is on leased property. The lease
funding for this project through multiple
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Continued from Page A1
A community project
The local coalition includes the district attorney’s of-
fi ce, Saint Alphonsus, St. Luke’s, the Northeast Oregon
Compassion Center, Baker County Health Department,
the Department of Human Services, and fi rst respond-
ers.
The Compassion Center, located at 1250 Hughes
Lane, houses the cribs for the Cribs for Kids program.
Cribs are purchased with community donations.
Cribs for Kids was founded in 1998 to provide educa-
tion on safe sleep for infants. According to the organiza-
tion, about 3,500 babies die in their sleep every year.
These deaths are classifi ed as SUID, or Sudden Unex-
pected Infant Death. Some are due to SIDS — Sudden
Infant Death Syndrome, of which the cause is unknown.
However, the organization reports that many infant
deaths are due to suffocation or strangulation in unsafe
sleeping environments.
In addition to education, the program provides free
cribs for families that might not otherwise have a safe
place for their baby to sleep.
For information on supporting the Cribs for Kids pro-
gram, call the Compassion Center at 541-523-9845.
Starkey forest closed to camping
FIRE HALL
SAFE SLEEP
camping,” said Mike Wisdom,
research wildlife biologist
with the Forest Service’s
Pacifi c Northwest Research
Station. “We will be monitor-
ing fi re risk and how best to
adapt to the situation going
forward.”
Alex Wittwer/The (La Grande) Observer
The 25,000-acre forest and
range, about 28 miles south-
west of La Grande on the
Wallowa-Whitman National
Forest, remains open to the
public, but under Phase C of
public use restrictions.
Those include a ban on
MEDICAL SPRINGS — The Medical Springs Rural
Fire Protection District has received a $9,400 grant
from The Wildhorse Foundation to replace old tires on
three of the district’s trucks.
One of those trucks, a water tender, has 10 large tires,
said Judy Whitley of the district, which covers an area
around the Baker-Union county border northeast of
Baker City.
Tires that will be replaced with the Wildhorse grant
range in age from 10 to 19 years, Whitley said — beyond
the normal lifespan for tires.
This isn’t the fi rst grant the Medical Springs district
has received from The Wildhorse Foundation, which is
managed by Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation in partnership with Wildhorse Resort &
Casino near Pendleton.
The district has also used grants from The Wildhorse
Foundation to equip a water tender and supply cache
trailer, set up a helicopter pad, buy a backup genera-
tor, water fi ltration system, computer and audio-visual
equipment for training, Whitley said.
“Their grants have helped us obtain equipment and
improve facilities that we otherwise could not afford,”
Whitley wrote in a press release.
A big part, she said, is modeling safe sleep practices in
the Birth Center.
“That’s the big take-away,” she said.
This includes using a HALO sleep sack (instead of
blankets) and placing the newborn on his or her back.
Upon discharge, every patient goes home with a free
sleep sack, which has been funded by the hospital auxil-
iary and foundation.
“To have that visual is really
“They’ve been so
gracious in support- important.”
ing the program,”
— Sommer Sargent, OB
Sargent said.
supervisor at Saint Alphonsus
Visitor restrictions Medical Center in Baker City,
due to the coronavi-
talking about the display in the
rus pandemic have
waiting room that shows safe
affected outreach
sleeping methods for infants
a bit. For instance,
no one is using the
waiting room where there is a display of a portable crib,
a doll wearing a sleep sack, and informational materials
on safe sleep.
“To have that visual is really important,” Sargent
said. “With COVID and visitor restrictions, it’s come
down to the patients and signifi cant others.”
Community outreach was also harder over the past
year.
“There wasn’t Community Night Out or school regis-
tration, and we didn’t participate in farmers markets,”
she said.
Even with the challenges of 2020, Sargent estimates
that at least 1,500 pamphlets with information about
safe sleep practices were distributed in the community.
Knife River Corp. is restoring 3 1/2 miles of Interstate 84 near Meacham this summer.
LA GRANDE — The
Starkey Experimental Forest
and Range southwest of La
Grande is closed to overnight
camping or other overnight
uses due to the extreme fi re
danger, the U.S. Forest Service
announced Friday, July 23.
■ Some fire truck tires are 19 years old
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