We’ve all seen them, those yellow and black end pieces of highway guardrails. And you may have wondered, as I have, why they are so blunt and what would happen if a car veered off the pavement and hit one. Now we know, sort of. They are built that way to make collisions less catastrophic than they […]
It was in October 2012, almost exactly two years ago, that I wrote in my newly launched blog about ODOT installing a $2.6 milllion cable barrier in the median along 35 miles of I-5 in Lane and Linn counties, up to the Harrisburg exit. And I complained that while the state planned to extend this safety feature […]
When, on Sept. 19, I wrote about the 75-year anniversary this year of the Albany railroad overpass, I didn’t know important details such as how much it cost to build. Now, thanks to ODOT spokesman Rick Little, I am better informed.
Once again waiting at the Queen Avenue railroad crossing in Albany last week, I was wondering — and who wouldn’t be? — about when the Portland & Western would finally begin to use its new track nearby. On Tuesday I got news from Kevin Haugh, the railroad’s general manager in Salem. And it sounded good.
There was good news and bad news — and then some more good news — in the latest announcement from ODOT concerning Oregon Highway 34 from Interstate 5 to the Corvallis Bypass.
If you’re anxiously waiting for that new bike and walking path under the Pacific Boulevard overpass — and even if you’re not — you’re going to have to wait a while longer. Construction was to have started in May. But nothing’s going on at the site. The reason: The project apparently needs a permit from the […]
Why we need the mileage tax
The Oregon Department of Transportation is working to launch a road-user tax that charges for the miles vehicles are driven on public roads within the state. The program won’t begin until next July 1, it is not allowed to involve more than 5,000 vehicle owners, those 5,000 must be volunteers, and yet a backlash is already beginning […]
Tags: ODOT, Oregon gas tax, Oregon roader user tax