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--> --> Officials prepare for slide season YACHATS (AP) - Planners want to make sure people don't have to go too far out of their way if a massive slide plugs Highway 101 this winter, an Oregon Department of Transportation official said Wednesday. When major slides bury the coastal highway, the focus is usually on repairing the damage and reopening the road. "Now, we will fix the landslide, but we are going to deal with getting traffic around it," said Richard Upton, a planning and project coordinator for the department. The Cape Cove slide near Florence in December 1999 kept the coastal highway fully or partially closed for more than three months. The only detour was to loop inland into the Willamette Valley. Local businesses suffered, and residents of Florence and Yachats were inconvenienced. If detours are needed this winter, Upton said the state will try to use Forest Service and county roads. Upton said some roads might need work to make them passable detours, but the cost could be included in any emergency funding. Slides are a fact of life on Highway 101 in the winter. The 363-mile Oregon portion of Highway 101 was finished in the mid-1930s, but sections date to 1914. The highway travels through some of the most beautiful scenery on the West Coast and attracts tourists from around the world. Some sections average as many as 27,000 vehicles a day. But ocean storms pound the highway. In some places, the pavement runs between waves on one side and steep slopes on the other. Upton's department has been working on its slide response since February. It's a work in progress, he said, and the department has yet to identify potential detours at several Highway 101 locations. Upton said moving radio transmitters and electronic highway signs into place ahead of time would cost $3 million. Upton said the department doesn't know where it will get that money, or an additional $2.8 million for needed culvert repairs. Officials also haven't decided whether to improve some county and Forest Service roads in advance. Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing