The Oregon Department of Transportation expects to move forward with the
“Mt. Hood Highway Safety Project,” including construction of a concrete
barrier, roadway widening and rock blasting on a section of Hwy. 26 between
Rhododendron and Government Camp.

Contractor bids will likely take place in September or October, with
construction beginning in winter or the following spring, depending on
weather.

In the meantime, ODOT will hold an open house on the project from 5-7 p.m.
Thursday, March 14, at The Resort at the Mountain, 68010 E. Fairway Avenue
in Welches.

Kimberly Dinwiddie, ODOT Community Affairs Coordinator, noted ODOT will
reach out in other ways, such as meeting with community groups, including
the Villages at Mount Hood and area community planning organizations, and
businesses, and also having a presence at the Sandy Mountain Festival this
summer.

Dinwiddie added that an “online open house” will be held for approximately
three weeks in March through the ODOT website for people to submit
comments.

In an ODOT study conducted between the years of 2002 and 2011, a seven-
mile stretch of Highway 26 between mileposts (MP) 47 and 54.3 revealed 301
accidents, including 31 involving vehicles crossing over into the other lane, 11
head-on collisions and four fatalities, according to Dinwiddie.

That section includes three areas, “Map Curve” (MP 49.4 to 50.1), between
“Map Curve” and the Mirror Lake curve (MP 51.3 to 51.6), and the Mirror Lake
curve (MP 51.6 to 52.2), for a total of approximately 2.3 miles, where a
concrete median barrier is proposed to eliminate the crossover danger.

“Out of the seven miles we studied, the section where we’re putting the
barrier had the highest incident rate,” said Dinwiddie, adding that all the
fatalities occurred in the section proposed for the barrier.

The project also includes paving Hwy. 26 for eight miles between
Rhododendron and Hwy. 35 and the removal of hundreds of thousands of
cubic rock from various rock faces on the side of Hwy. 26 to widen the
highway, making room for the concrete median and for extended or added
passing lanes.

Dinwiddie estimated the entire project could take up to three years or more to
complete, with the rock removal requiring most of that time, while the
estimated cost of the project is more than $22.5 million.

Controlled explosives will be used to blast rock off of the various rock faces,
requiring brief closures of Hwy. 26 for up to 20 minutes at a time, while traffic
will be reduced to one or two lanes of the highway at times during the project.
But Dinwiddie also added that during the busiest travel times, including the
winter recreation months and during holiday travel, all lanes of Hwy. 26 will
be open.

With most of the work expected during the spring, summer and fall, she
added, some recreation trails near the blast sites will be closed at times for
safety purposes.

At a meeting in February, members of ODOT met with representatives from
the Hoodland Fire District, the US Forest Service and Oregon State Police to
discuss the project.

HFD Chief Mic Eby expressed a number of concerns, particularly how a
concrete barrier will make it difficult for first responders to get to an accident
on the other side of it.

“That’s going to increase not only the time to get there, but also the safety
factor,” said Eby, noting that responders may have to drive against traffic to
access a crash or climb over the barrier, putting themselves at danger.

Eby added the approximately two-mile long cable barrier installed at
Cherryville in 2007 has worked very well for the department, since the Sandy
Fire District can respond to incidents from the other direction, there is a break
in the barrier and the cables can be dismounted and put on the ground, if
necessary.

“That’s a wonderful system,” Eby said. “We have not had a bad transportable
injury since that thing has gone up. It might be maintenance intensive, but
it’s saving lives.”

Dinwiddie noted a cable barrier is not possible for the new barrier east of
Rhododendron due to weather. If a cable or post is damaged in winter, posts
may freeze into the ground and may not be able to be removed,
compromising the effectiveness of the barrier in winter.

She added that ODOT engineers are currently moving forward in the early
stages of the design phase and looking into the possibility of adding gaps so
responders can respond to accidents across the barrier.

Representatives from ODOT and HFD were expected to tour the area of the
proposed barrier to find suitable locations for gaps in late February.

Eby would like to see at least three or four gaps, but also sees potential
problems with the cement barrier with snow building up in the middle of the
highway due to the barrier and vehicles searching for alternatives routes on
USFS roads when traffic is bad.

“We are working with the Hoodland Fire District and the other safety providers
to make sure that nothing we do in this project does anything to diminish the
health and safety of the community up there,” said Don Hamilton, ODOT
Public Information Officer.

Bill Westbrook, District Ranger at the Zig Zag Ranger Station, noted the USFS
has been heavily involved with the process, including participation from
departments such as fisheries, wildlife, recreation, archaeology and a
landscape architect.

“For right now, it’s a needed safety thing; there are a number of cross over
accidents,” Westbrook said. “To improve those types of accidents are
important.”

Dinwiddie added that the appearance of the barrier will “be consistent with
visual quality requirements stated in the Mount Hood forest plan,” although no
design elements are known at this time.

“It will not look like a concrete median barrier you see in the middle of
Portland on (Interstate 5),” Dinwiddie said.