Two stormy days, one on Halloween and the other on Tuesday, Nov. 17, lead
to mud slides and some downed trees in the construction zone of Oregon
Department of Transportation’s (ODOT) “U.S. 26 Mt. Hood Highway Safety
and Preservation Project.” The slides, caused by oversaturated soils, and trees
did not impact the highway as they occurred either where the new slopes
were built far back enough to accommodate them and or where they fell on
top of a work bench area, according to Kimberly Dinwiddie, ODOT Community
Affairs.

K&E Excavating, the contractor in charge of the project, spent several days
cleaning up the slides, while the unfavorable weather caused work on the
project to be approximately a week behind schedule. Dinwiddie noted the
hope was for workers to install rock bolts in the slopes at Map Curve in early
December before the project wraps for the winter, but that some fencing
would also be installed in areas.

“We just don’t have enough time, weather wise, to repair those slides fully
before the snow starts falling,” she said. “We’re not going to leave anything
that we feel couldn’t last until spring.”

The project is expected to restart on April 1, 2016, or as weather allows, and
it is expected to be finished by next fall.

For more information, visit us26mthoodsafety.org.