The bridge on Goldfish Farm Road was not “out” Sunday, but it was not finished either.
The contract to replace the bridge over Cox Creek on Goldfish Farm Road called for the project to be completed by now. But on a bike ride Sunday to the wilds of east Albany, I found the bridge still closed.
Among the items not yet completed Sunday were the railings on the sides of the new bridge.
Three guesses about what goes in this spot on the shoulder of Goldfish Farm Road.
“The contract completion date for the Goldfish Farm Road Bridge project is September 22,” County Engineer Daineal Malone told me in an email toward the end of August.
Something in the schedule must have slipped. Most of the replacement bridge has been completed, including the all-important concrete deck and sidewalks. But on Sunday it looked like there was still work to do on other items, such as the landscaping on the approaches and railings on the bridge.
Cascade Civil Corp., of Redmond, has the $2.4 million contract to replace the bridge. The Oregon Department of Transportation is funding the project.
On Sunday afternoon there was no way to determine if there’s a new target date for completing the project or reopening the road to traffic across the bridge.
Goldfish Farm has been closed since April, with detours to Scravel Hill Road in the east or Price Road in the west.
On Aug. 30 I reported that, based on the contract completion date, the bridge should be reopened in about three weeks. That was on the optimistic side, as it turned out. (hh)
Nice that you ignored the no trespassing sign and toured the bridge anyway.
We will be waiting for a follow-up for the this bridge story, especially an explanation of the delay if completion! Residents of northeast Albany have been looking forward to the opening of Goldfish Farm road for quite a while.
From the looks of the culvert and dirt work remaining, plus the railing/striping, it appears we will be waiting at least several more weeks, if not a month or more , for this to be completed. I do wonder if there are monetary penalty clauses in the contract if the work is not completed within the contracted period? If so, likely there are “weasel words” or such to allow the contactor to wiggle out from paying any penalties, while Albany residents continue to be much inconvenienced, spending extra time and gas money to take the detours. It appears Linn county is the contracting agency. Hmmm, wonder if we can delay paying our property taxes, without penalty, for an equal length of time?
Thank you Hasso for everything you do. Without your real reporting the people of Albany would never find out answers to questions everyone has. This is the way journalism used to be.
Amen!
It has only been 13 years since I had to jump into the ditch to avoid two trucks meeting close to that spot. I proposed modernizing that stretch of road in 2013 when I first got into office. It was explained to me that it was a County Road in the City so it was complicated. Glad to see it come to fruition.
The way many of the “newer breed” of truck drivers operate, you’ll have to jump over a railing now.
Pacific Blvd. between Verizon & Petco seems problematic with semi trucks hugging or crossing into the bike lane on a rather frequent basis.