UMATILLA, Ore.-After five and a half months of work and lane closures, traffic is flowing freely on Interstate 82 over the Umatilla Bridge between Washington and Oregon-for now.
While there are currently no signs of road crews, cones, or Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) workers, the project is not quite done, and drivers should expect further delays and lane reductions.
“The painting is finished, but there’s still repairs that need to be made,” said Scott Klepach with WSDOT.
The painting portion of the project involved removing all the paint from the bridge down to bare metal, then painting the entire underneath steel members of the bridge.
The repairs that will be performed include replacing all damaged or missing rivets, and some structural repairs to the bottom section of the truss.
According to Klepach, WSDOT is waiting to hear from its contractor on when work crews will return to the bridge to perform the repairs.
“Some single lane closures will probably take place then, but we don’t have a timeline yet,” Klepach said, noting that once work does start, the project might be done in two to three weeks.
The total budget for the Umatilla Bridge painting and repair project, from planning through construction, is $21,094,778. WSDOT is performing the work, although the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is paying for half of the project.
Why would you paint before repairing?
I wish they would figure out a better traffic controls plan than this summer it was a JOKE. backed up for miles. one thing they could do is put a temporary traffic control signal on the onramp from Plymouth.
all in all I think the traffic control from last year was a complete failure by a company that just didn’t care