Traffic will flow more efficiently along Highway 395 after the state completes a $1.7 million upgrade to the highway’s traffic signalization system next year.
On Monday, the Hermiston City Council approved an intergovernmental agreement with the Oregon Department of Transportation to modernize the signalization along Highway 395 from Fourth Street to Highway 730.
“This is a pretty significant upgrade,” City Manager Ed Brookshier told the council Monday night.
The project, to be paid for by the state, will include upgrading 16 signal controllers as well as communication and video detection, and improving sidewalks and ADA ramps where necessary. In an e-mail to Brookshier, Tim Rynearson, project leader for ODOT’s Region 5, said the project will provide for greater remote control of the system.
“The signals will have more capability of being adjusted from a desk and computer remotely,” he said. “This will provide the ability to have traffic flow more efficiently and address bottlenecks that exist now or in the future.”
The project will also improve the turning radius at 395 and Elm.
“Trucks making the turn onto Elm from 395 are driving over the sidewalk and ADA ramp,” he said. Rynearson pointed out that two pedestrian fatalities have occurred there in the past.
“The end result is to make 395 safer and more efficient,” said Brookshier.
Following the completion of the project in 2015, ODOT will begin repaving 395 in 2016.
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