Caution: Road work ahead

If you drive the streets of Eugene on a regular basis then you — and your car’s shock absorbers — know that some are in bad shape.

West 18th Avenue between Chambers and City View streets is so filled with potholes, so chewed up, that nothing short of an “FDR” will fix it.

No, we’re not talking about the 32nd president of the United States. We’re talking about “Full Depth Reclamation,” a process whereby a large rototiller-like machine rips up the old asphalt and basically recycles it by mixing it with cement and water to create a compact base and new road.

That project, set to begin in August and finish in October, is just one of about 20 major repair projects the city of Eugene has planned for this summer, part of 70 lane miles of streets that need fixing at a cost of almost $20 million. And it’s all just a piece of plenty of summer road construction planned for the Eugene-Springfield area and the rest of Lane County this year.

If you’ve been one of those screaming at city officials to do something about all the potholes, then get ready to bite your tongue this summer when you’re stuck in a road construction delay.

“It’s going to be some substantial improvements,” said Matt Rodrigues, the city of Eugene’s pavement preservation program manager. “A lot of these are improvements people have wanted for a long time. And now we have the bond measure to do it.”

Eugene voters approved a five-year, $35.9 million street repair bond measure in November 2008 — financed through a property tax hike of 61 cents per $1,000 of assessed value — to supplement repaving projects that the city already finances through its 5-cents-a-gallon gas tax.

Some of the work already has begun — as those who regularly drive through the intersection of 29th Avenue and Willamette Street, another pothole-ridden spot in south Eugene, are well aware. Repairs began there two weeks ago. The busy four-lane intersection has been reduced to a single-lane, four-way stop as crews work through July on reconstructing the intersection.

Other Eugene streets already being worked on or expected to get a makeover this summer include Storey Boulevard in the south hills, East 33rd Avenue between Hilyard and Willamette streets, Goodpasture Island Road between the Delta Highway bridge and Kingsley Road, Valley River Way, Garfield Street between West Sixth and 11th avenues, High Street between East Third and 17th avenues, Crescent Avenue between Game Farm Road and Shadow View, West First Avenue between Seneca and Bertelsen roads, Willamette Street between 46th and 52nd avenues and Coburg Road and Oakway Road from near Oakway Center to Cal Young Road.

Springfield residents are also experiencing their share of early road repair driving headaches. Work started this week on a $1.8 million joint project with Lane County to repave Pioneer Parkway between its roundabout and Q Street. That project includes repaving work starting in June on Harlow Road between the roundabout and Gateway Street, and Hayden Bridge Road between the roundabout and 19th Street.

Lane Transit District also is performing work on Pioneer Parkway to install a lane for the $41 million EmX extension project that will connect downtown Eugene to the Gateway area and Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend starting next year.

Eugene also will improve its portion of Harlow Road between Interstate 5 and Coburg Road. Crews will work from mid-June through July to completely remove and replace the asphalt there, Rodrigues said.

Springfield also is working with the Oregon Department of Transportation on a joint project at Gateway Street and Randy Papé Beltline. As part of a $200 million bundle of upgrades — which includes the already built $72 million northbound I-5-to-westbound Beltline flyover — ODOT has begun its latest phase of work at the I-5/Beltline interchange.

A new northbound I-5 exit that comes to a traffic signal on the Beltline will be built off the flyover, as well as a new northbound ramp from Beltline to I-5. The improvements include widening Beltline between the interchange and Hutton Street in Springfield, and construction of a 4,700-foot sound wall along the west side of I-5 from the Beltline to Harlow Road. The latest phase of work will cost a total of $20 million, ODOT spokesman Rick Little said.

Despite the state budget crunch of recent years, ODOT is looking at 165 major projects statewide this summer, an all-time record, Little said.

“Some of it is simply timing, some of it is (federal) stimulus money,” he said. “I don’t think it’s reflective of any budget crisis, I think it’s just reflective of when the dollars are available.”

Springfield’s portion of the improvements are $10.5 million, supervising civil engineer Jeff Paschall said. That includes new traffic signals at the Gateway/Beltline and Gateway/Game Farm Road intersections and lane additions along Gateway Street that have already begun with utility work between International Way and the Gateway/Beltline intersection, he said.

In addition to its continuing work on the I-5/Willamette River replacement bridge, scheduled to be completed in 2013, other major work by ODOT this summer in the Eugene-Springfield area includes an $8 million project to repave a seven-mile stretch of Highway 99/West Seventh Avenue between Enid Road by the Eugene Airport and the Washington/Jefferson Bridge, and improvements at a couple of intersections along that stretch. Motorists can expect single lane closures, Little said.

ODOT also will be working on a $16.6 million project to raise several bridges over I-5 from Talbot Road about 13 miles south of Salem to Market Road just south of Creswell. That project, which includes the bridges over westbound Interstate 105 and Martin Luther King Jr./Centennial Boulevard, will raise the bridges to a new minimum clearance of 16 feet 8 inches to provide room for larger truck loads, Little said.

The clearance on I-5 under the I-105 westbound bridge, for example, is now only 15 feet 2 inches, Little said. I-105 westbound and MLK Jr./Centennial Boulevard are each expected to be closed for a week to 10 days at some point this summer as crews raise the bridges, put in braces, cut columns and jack up the structures, Little said.