Looking at the Ellsworth (foreground) and Lyon Street bridges from the viewing pier in March 2021.
Now and then, an over-height truck hits the cross beams on Albany’s Ellsworth Street Bridge and repairs have to be made. Now ODOT is getting ready to fix this problem by raising the beams.
ODOT has sent Albany postal customers mailers announcing the bridge project for 2024. The work is expected to start in the spring.
The department is telling people that to do the construction, the Ellsworth Bridge will have to be closed overnight and traffic will be routed to the Lyon Street Bridge.
This will reduce both north- and soutbound traffic to one lane and make Lyon a two-way bridge at night for the duration of the construction. There was no word on how long this would take.
In 2020, I reported that ODOT plans to increase the clearance of the bridge to 16 feet, up from 14 feet and 11 inches now. The bridge was built in 1925.
The agency said that designing the repairs would cost an estimated $736,000 and the actual construction would cost about $5.1 million.
Here’s a tip, ODOT: Even though many people in Albany habitually misspell the name of Lyon Street, there is no “s” at the end of Lyon. (hh)
This was the image on the ODOT mailer announcing the Albany bridge project for 2024.
The crossbeams on the Ellsworth Bridge, seen in November 2018, are to be raised in 2024.
Finally!
I lived in Albany for 22 years. I worked for ODOT at the end of my employed life.
Finally, after almost 100 years, a common sense “investment” will happen on a bridge I crossed thousands of times.
The essence of government is trust. And this instance proves the old canard that trust in government is very hard to achieve.
So, ODOT says maximum semi height is 14 feet. Anything else requires special permit. So why are we paying millions for someone
who is unable to measure his load and is fully responsible for and has mandatory insurance and or Bond to operate in the State of Oregon?
Why? To avoid the need for frequent repairs.
The same problem exists on the bridge at Harrisburg. What is interesting about this one is that if you are north bound there is a sign rerouting over height traffic to 99W near Monroe. However I don’t recall ever seeing any such rerouting if you are south bound!
Why not just make a slight slope in the pavement under the bridge? It might be less expensive and evasive. If I invited a tall person to my house they would not expect me to extend the height of my door. Trucking companies are aware of routes in cities that are not suitable for large truck usage anyway. Trucks are limited by many street designs as well (roundabouts etc.). Just another drain of funds needed for road repairs for roads that are used by residents everyday.
I don’t object to raising the cross beams. I object to ODOT spending $700+ thousands to plan a fix for a bridge which is common nation wide and the fix has probably been made dozens or 100’s of times. Washington bridges on I-5 have the same problem with one being put out of commission north of Seattle a year or so ago. I feel the same way about architects being used to design every new school in Oregon rather than buying permanent plans for schools of the same size.