HASSO HERING

On Friday I stopped at the Cox Creek bridge on Waverly Drive. The bridge will be replaced starting next week.

Going to Simpson Park or Talking Water Gardens may take a little longer starting next week because the work to replace the Waverly Drive bridge over Cox Creek is supposed to start June 15.

The bridge, built in 1957, has been reduced to one lane and weight-restricted since 2005.

Linn County reported that the board of commissioners approved a $2,441,679 contract for the bridge replacement on June 9. The contractor is Legacy Contracting of Stayton, whose bid the commissioners had accepted last month.

The bridge is within the Millersburg city limits. It’s the only road access to the Millersburg yard of the Portland & Western Railroad as well as Simpson Park and Talking Water Gardens.

The bridge will be replaced with a single concrete span, 110 feet long, with two driving lanes and a sidewalk that doubles as a bike lane.

Linn County said the contractor will build it in two phases, keeping one lane open while the other one is built, but traffic may be delayed for 20 minutes or so at various times.

In a press release, the county explained: “The project will be administered by the Linn County Road Department and is scheduled to start on June 15. Some 89.73 percent of the cost will be funded through ODOT’s Local Agency Certification Program, and the City of Millersburg will contribute 10.27 percent.”.

Construction is supposed to be completed by Nov. 20.

I’ve written about that bridge for more than 20 years, advocating for this bottleneck to be fixed. I’m looking forward to a time when it will finally cease to be a subject of interest or concern. (hh)

The view from the old bridge Friday included a pile of trash on the bank.