Between 2012 and 2014, a total of 34 traffic accidents occurred around the intersection of Highway 395 and Elm Avenue in Hermiston, and the Oregon Department of Transportation has plans to make it a safer intersection for drivers and pedestrians.
Part of those plans are already evident as ODOT began recently to prepare for next year’s re-paving project that will stretch from Fourth Street up to Highway 730 in Umatilla. Those yellow poles in front of Starbucks and McDonald’s are just temporary – ODOT plans to replace them with concrete barriers designed to keep traffic from turning left into and out of those establishments in an effort to reduce the wrecks that happen at the intersection.
Drivers aren’t the only ones vulnerable at the intersection. Several years ago, a pedestrian was killed when she was hit by a truck.
ODOT Assistant District Manager Tim Rynearson gave the Hermiston City Council a summary of next year’s work plans for Highway 395 and explained the efforts being made to make it a safer corridor for travelers.
“It’s our responsibility to try to mitigate those accidents,” he said. The 395/Elm Avenue intersection is busiest intersection in all of Northeast Oregon, Rynearson told the council. According to the city of Hermiston, as many as 25,000 vehicles travel past the intersection each day.
The council also approved a noise ordinance exemption Monday night that will allow ODOT to do the bulk of its re-paving work at night next year. Work is scheduled to begin in March and continue through August. The night work will allow ODOT to work when there is less traffic, thereby making it safer for workers. It will also mean less traffic disruption during the day.
