The Oregon Department of Transportation presented a revised plan for the
“U.S. 26 Mt. Hood Highway Safety and Preservation Project” on Tuesday, Jan.
21 at The Resort at The Mountain after the five bids for the original project
were significantly higher than the available budget.

Changes in the project include reducing the 2.3-mile concrete barrier to a 1.6-
mile barrier (now starting just east of the runaway truck ramp) and
eliminating rock fall work at Map Curve.

Rock fall work could be included if new bids are viewed to be favorable, while
the scope of the project will continue to include paving work from east of
Rhododendron to Highway 35 and lengthening of westbound passing lanes.

“We recognize rock fall at Map Curve is still a problem,” wrote Kimberly
Dinwiddie, ODOT community affairs coordinator, in an email to the Mountain
Times. “Today, we don’t know what improvements we will be able to afford to
make at that location. We look forward to opening the bids in March to learn
what rockfall improvements, if any, we can construct.”

Dinwiddie noted it was not known at this time if work at Map Curve would be
considered for a separate project in the future.

Construction is expected to start as early as May and will likely need three
years or more to complete. Work will be performed between April through
October each year, with no work done during the winter months. Traffic
delays, including reducing the highway to a single lane and complete highway
closures for short periods of time, will also occur.

Dinwiddie noted while details on the last round of bidding are unavailable to
keep the bidding process competitive, the bids exceeded ODOT’s engineers
estimate, which is based on historical costs. If the second round of bidding
also comes in significantly higher, Dinwiddie wrote that ODOT will analyze the
reason for the higher bids and determine the next steps.

“Unlike the last bidding round where we based our estimates on historical
costs, we now have a solid idea of what rate the contractor is bidding,” she
added.

The budget for the project remains at $27.85 million,
For more information, visit US26MtHoodSafetyOpenHouse.org.