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Blackwell Road to close three straight weekends By Buffy Pollock Updated: Jul 28, 2022 06:24 PM A A Some of the initial earth work on the Blackwell Road project includes protecting Willow Creek. Later a box culvert will be placed over the creek. [ODOT photo] ODOT officials are gearing up for three weekends of road closures on Highway 140/Blackwell Road, from Dean Creek Road near Interstate 5 (exit 35) east to the Blackwell Road intersection to Gold Hill. ODOT spokesperson Gary Leaming said crews would work during weekends to minimize impact to motorists, closing the area from 6 p.m. Fridays to 6 a.m. Monday, from July 29 to Aug. 1, Aug. 12-15 and Aug. 19-22. The closures are required to install new culverts and adjust the road grade at Willow Creek as part of $10 million worth of improvements to the Blackwell Road area. Leaming said the work would improve the area for motorists and bicyclists, with better access and a slight extension to the nearby Greenway. Knife River crews will complete paving and rock work, among other upgrades. “We have a very narrow, crooked two-lane road built in the 1930s,” Leaming said. “When it’s all said and done, it will have a single lane in each direction, a center turn lane — which it doesn’t currently have, 8-foot shoulders and a nice bike lane from Dean Creek to the little tunnel there by the turnoff to Gold Hill.” During roadwork, homeowners and businesses north of Willow Creek will access their properties from the north while those located south of the creek will use Highway 99 and I-5 at exit 35. The signed detour route for traffic coming from the east will include Oregon 62 to the Rogue Valley Expressway to Medford Exit 30, ODOT officials said. Motorists coming from the west can opt to use either Blackwell Road from Gold Hill (exit 43) or Table Rock/Antelope roads. Leaming said the closures would affect an informal Park and Ride, off exit 35, near Ground Control, but a new, permanent location will open after Aug. 1 at Highway 99 and Willow Springs Road. For project info, see oregon.gov/odot/projects/pages/project-details.aspx?project=18975