ODOT to remove mainline bridge

The concrete bridge that crosses the McKenzie Highway two miles west of Sisters is coming down. The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) will begin removing the bridge on Tuesday, March 31.

According to an ODOT press release, the bridge is being removed so that ODOT can widen the highway between Sisters High School and the Crossroads area to include a bicycle path.

However, it appears that gravel for the extra width has already been laid with the bridge in place.

Dave Neys, Area Maintenance Manager with ODOT, also explained, "When we were doing the bike lane with our maintenance forces, the Forest Service told us they would sure like to take that bridge out of there. It is a headache and a liability for them."

The bridge was built by Brooks Scanlon as a railroad bridge for the main line haul road in 1957. The bridge was built on Forest Service land and maintained on a cost-share basis with timber industry users of the bridge, according to Ray Horgen, road manager with the Sisters Ranger District.

Horgen said the bridge will be removed because it no longer serves its original purpose and objects thrown from the bridge represent a safety hazard.

"If it is not taken down, we would need to spend considerable funds to bring it up to current safety standards," said Horgen. Options included "caging" the bridge to keep people from throwing bricks and pumpkins onto the McKenzie Highway below, he said, or removing the bridge completely.

Horgen said there was a letter in the file from the Crossroads Homeowner's Association requesting that the bridge be caged or removed.

Horgen also said that the approaches to the bridge require maintenance by forest crews every year to rebuild embankments damaged by erosion.

The timber industry representatives have told the Forest Service that they have no objection to blocking the road and removing the bridge, Horgen said.

ODOT plans to lift the bridge off its abutments and transport it on a lowboy trailer to a storage area, Horgen said. The steel I-beam stringers can be reused.

Because the heavy crane and trucks required for this job could damage the road surface, ODOT wants to accomplish the work before the McKenzie Highway is resurfaced in July and August, said Dave Neys.

Removal of the concrete abutments will reduce travel on the highway to one lane on April 1 and 2. The work will not interfere with school bus schedules. Traffic through the area will be controlled by signs and flaggers.

The project may close the highway for up to one hour. The entire 1.5-mile project is expected to be completed by mid-April.