Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber announced that plans to install cable barriers along sections of I-5’s median, which stretches between Salem and Albany have been expedited. This announcement comes with the support of the state’s DOT director Matthew Garrett.
Climate issues, including heavy rains in the region of the interstate, spurred the governor’s decision. The project was initially slated to go out for bid in February of next year, but after protracted discussions with Garrett, Kitzhaber felt implementation could not be held out any longer.
“Extreme conditions call for extreme measures,” Garrett concurred.
The project has been in the offing for some time, thus it was felt that pressing the timetable forward by a few months would have no deleterious effect on either planning or execution. Construction in the region is typically begun in dry conditions, but emergency procurements will allow the DOT to begin work much sooner. Such procurement processes are usually reserved for situations such as highway damage due to catastrophic events, not the least of which are landslides and flash flooding.
ODOT will reach out to those firms that have successfully completed cable barrier installations for it in the past, and bids are expected to be in by the first week of November, with the further goal that construction be under way not more than two weeks thereafter.
