The Oregon Department of Transportation will stage rolling slowdowns for eastbound and westbound Interstate 84 to accommodate the removal of hazard trees along the freeway between mileposts 228 and 238.
Motorists can expect multiple rolling slowdowns between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Wednesday, March 11, and next Wednesday, March 18. During the operations pilot cars will reduce speeds to 30 mph for about 15 minutes each occurrence. Once traffic has passed the tree removal work site the pilot cars will exit the freeway and motorists can return to posted speeds. Plan extra travel time in this area during the slowdown periods.
Freeway on ramps in the slow down zones will also be temporarily closed during the operations until the pilot cars and traffic have passed by. Travelers will be able to exit the freeway at impacted interchanges, but may experience delays in getting on the freeway towards the direction of the work zones.
The rolling slowdown will create a window of time when no vehicles will be at the work sites for approximately 10 minutes. This will allow ODOT cress to safely fell the hazard trees without traffic in the area.
“We don’t anticipate any issues and the trees should fall away from the roadway, but as a precaution we don’t want traffic in the area when they are coming down,” said ODOT Meacham Maintenance Manager Randy Randolph. “We greatly appreciate patience and will keep traffic impacts to a minimum. If weather conditions are not favorable March 11, we will postpone the operation till the following Wednesday.”
