Cloverdale bridge project hits delay

Cloverdale Road will be partially closed for a little longer than expected this month.

The project to replace an existing bridge over an irrigation ditch between Jordan Road and Highway 126 hit a snag last week when two culverts were damaged while road crews poured in a sand-slurry cement

mix.

"For some reason, two of those culverts buckled on us," said Deschutes County road department engineer George Kolb.

A crew was digging out the culverts on Monday, and new culverts were expected to arrive by Wednesday.

The project was expected to be completed March 22, but Kolb has extended the closure.

"I've got 'er down for the next two weeks," he said. "We should be less than that..."

Irrigation season is near and water will soon need to flow through that ditch.

"We've gotta be out of there by the first of April," Kolb said. "We've got plenty of time. The irrigation district has been out there; they know what's going on."

Later in April the road department will begin a "grind-and-recycle" reconstruction of Cloverdale Road. That project will not require road closure, though it will reduce traffic to one lane in areas where work is

going on.