Oregon Travel This Week: Highway Delays, Coast Road Open, Wine Country Oddities
Published 02/19/2011
(Albany, Oregon) – Look for traffic delays on I-5 Tuesday morning in the Albany area, as ODOT will implement a “rolling slowdown” as they remove two dangerous trees, while the road to the north Oregon coast will stay open all weekend.
Between at 9:30 and 10:30 a.m., Tuesday, February, there will be two separate rolling slowdowns of northbound I-5 traffic between mileposts 238 and 239, near North Albany.
Three pilot cars will slow traffic in all northbound lanes to 40 miles per hour to allow time for ODOT crews to cut and remove the sixty foot trees – which are currently leaning over the highway.
The two slowdowns will be about 20 minutes apart from each other. Traffic will not be stopped for the operation and only traffic in the northbound lanes will be affected.
ODOT said the trees have the potential to fall onto the highway.
On Highway 26, between Portland and the north coast, the Dennis Edwards Tunnel will remain open Friday and through the weekend including Sunday night. Closures will resume 8 p.m. Monday, February 21 – a day later than usual.
Due to the extreme cold temperatures of Friday night, the contractor was unable to spray the reinforced concrete (shotcrete) on the newly exposed tunnel walls and ceiling.
There is increased traffic to the coast this weekend because of the Presidents Day Weekend, so late night closures will not resume on Sunday as they normally do. ODOT will keep the tunnel open that night and
ODOT will keep the tunnel open Sunday night in anticipation for increased travel over the Presidents Day Weekend. For more information about tunnel closures visit: www.tripcheck.com.
Also in Oregon travel news this week is a round up of Oregon Wine Country oddities and hidden spots, as the area meanders on through what surely must be hundreds of miles of dirt roads, paved highway and bucolic countryside that is part farmland, part primeval forest.
It's a kind of virtual tour of Oregon Wine Country. Oregon Wine Country a Combo of Secret Roads, Geologic Wonders and La Dolce Vita
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