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State will replace Barnett Road bridge By MELISSA MARTIN Mail Tribune Barnett Road will get a new bridge over Bear Creek in about five years. A portion of Barnett Road could be closed for six months while crews build a single-span bridge that's 8 feet taller and 40 feet wider than the current bridge, said Mike Arneson, Oregon Department of Transportation engineer. During bridge construction, cars would be able to cross the creek about a quarter-mile south at the new Interstate 5 interchange, where drivers coming off freeway ramps could choose to turn left on Highland Drive to reach Highway 99 or right on Highland Drive to reach Barnett Road. Built in 1948, the old bridge has cracks in it, a state engineering report showed earlier this year. Because it may not be strong enough to withstand widening, the bridge will be replaced after ODOT completes the $55 million interchange project scheduled for construction in 2005-07. Besides causing temporary traffic detours, the bridge building has the potential to displace nearby Rockin' Rod's Restaurant and the Shell Station, and to greatly inconvenience Best Western Motel, said Mike Gallagher, project manager with URS Corp. of Corvallis. ODOT is paying URS Corp. $1.9 million for consulting work, about $200,000 more than budgeted, because of extra work the firm has been doing to mitigate the state road project's impact on local neighborhoods. The bridge work also will inconvenience Dairy Queen, Economy Inn, Motel 6 and Days Inn while crews rebuild Alba Drive to match the elevation of the new bridge, which will be 8 feet higher than the old one. The Federal Emergency Management Agency requires that the span's lowest point be 1 foot higher than water flows during a major flood. "I've been here since 1944 and I've lived through all the major floods and there's never been water high enough to take that bridge out," said Dick Simonson, a Highland Drive resident who opposes the interchange project. Besides the FEMA rules, bridge builders must abide by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and National Marine Fisheries rules restricting creek work from June through September, the busiest time of the year for motels and restaurants, said Gary Leaming, ODOT information specialist. "This pretty much tells me the restaurant is gone - how will they be able to operate for a year during the construction with the bridge being closed?" asked Tim Alford, CEO of Rogue Federal Credit Union and a member of the South Medford Interchange Solution Team. ODOT can begin designing the new bridge now that the Solution Team last week voted unanimously for the single-span option, at an estimated cost of $2.7 million. The team also considered a three-span bridge, which would cost about the same but would take twice as long to build and would displace the Shell station and Rockin' Rod's Restaurant and change Best Western Motel's access, Arneson said. Crews cannot build a temporary bridge while the new one is under construction because of the environmental impact on Bear Creek and because a temporary span would displace what's on either side of it - Bear Creek Park's pedestrian bridge or the gas station and restaurant, Gallagher said. The state will build the new interchange first and save the Barnett bridge project for last so drivers can have another way to cross the creek, he said. Reach reporter Melissa Martin at 776-4497, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.