No flagging on U.S. 20 east of Newport this weekend, Nov. 3

Travelers will have a faster trip this weekend as both lanes of traffic on U.S. 20 Corvallis-Newport Highway will be open at milepost 2.25 beginning in the late afternoon Friday. On Monday, 24 hour flagging will resume near Valley Ridge Lane. Slide repair construction continues with the installation of a trench drain under the roadway. The eastbound lane has now been repaired and paved. Traffic will be moved onto the eastbound lane while the trench drain is installed under the westbound lane. Delays of up to 20 minutes should be expected, especially during commute times. The lane closures and flagging are necessary to complete the project safely. Unfortunately, the roadway is too narrow to perform the necessary construction and keep more than one lane open. When traffic is very heavy in both directions, 100 vehicles are released in each direction at a time, like a traffic signal. At times when traffic is heavy in only one direction, 100 vehicles are released from the heavy direction and then the light direction is cleared. This typically doesn’t take as much time as the light direction vehicle count is less than 100. Once the light direction is cleared, 100 vehicles are immediately released from the heavy direction. Different scenarios have been tried at this location, and the current plan has moved travelers through most efficiently. In 2016 the highway was repaired at this same location. Record rainfall over the winter led to another slide soon after repairs were completed and exposed some previously unknown underground issues. Options were studied over the year to determine the best way to meet the needs of this specific area before a repair was started. The repair includes placing lightweight fill material under the roadway to lighten the weight of the slide area, installing underground drainage to collect water under the road, and installing a new culvert to move the collected water away from the slide area. Construction is scheduled to be complete in mid-December.