» Summer construction season under way

By Amy Moss Strong
Editor
Friday, July 03, 2009 | No comments posted. It’s summer, and that means road and other construction is in full force.

This week, residents may have noticed a crew in Old Town, digging huge trenches along Fillmore Avenue. According to City Manager Matt Winkel, that isn’t a city project, but rather one being undertaken by the Oregon Department of Transportation.

A crew contracted by ODOT is replacing a drain pipe in a storm drain near Ferry Creek. As a result of the broken pipe, when Bandon experiences heavy rains, the area along U.S. Highway 101 and Fillmore often floods.

“The crew had to dig up the area, replace the drain pipe and make a connection between the catch basin at that intersection and Ferry Creek so it will dump directly into Ferry Creek, which flows into the Coquille River,” Winkel said. “Hopefully that will alleviate the flooding at that intersection during big storms.”

Winkel said the project should be done prior to the Fourth of July weekend.

“If they aren’t done, they are not going to work through the holiday weekend because we don’t want those intersections and parking areas blocked.” Other projects

City crews are working on other projects around town.

The city’s application to ODOT for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to construct the Harlem Avenue sidewalk from 11th Street to Harvard Street has been approved.

The city received $100,000 (the maximum grant available for small cities), which will be matched by $186,553 of in-kind labor and equipment from the electric and public works departments to complete the $286,533 project.

“We will now complete the engineering and go to bid for the sidewalk portion, with city public works crews doing much of the grading and drainage work, and electric crews placing the existing overhead utility lines underground,” Winkel said.

In addition, the city has hired a crew leader and five youth crew members to work for the next eight weeks completing the City Park trail, the 10th Street linear park and the Table Rock Pathway. The Oregon Youth Conservation Corps provided the $32,000 grant for materials and wages.