Nearly 200 miles of highways in Oregon reopened this week after being closed for nearly a month due to the historic fires that swept across large swaths of the state.
As of Wednesday, 47 miles of highways remain completely closed. The largest closure is on OR-224, where the Riverside fire ravaged burned more than 138,000 acres in Clackamas County. Another 43 miles of highway across the state are now open but have pilot vehicles providing limited access. The state now estimates that at its peak, 244 miles of highways were closed to all traffic. A previous estimate put that closure at approximately 288 miles.
Katherine Benenati, a state transportation spokesperson, said despite several highways reopening, much work remains, and fall and winter weather could pose significant challenges.
“Even after roads are fully reopened, heavy rain will be a concern in fire-stricken areas,” she said in a statement.
The state may have to stabilize hillsides or clear rockslides in coming weeks or months, and an estimated 480,500 trees may need to be removed.
“Slides and debris flows are a particular concern – especially after rains – in areas where fire has stripped away vegetation, tree roots and underbrush,” she said.
Last week, crews removed at least 49,000 trees from OR-126 along the McKenzie River and along OR-138E east of Roseburg. Benenati said those trees were documented as “phase one” trees and classified as “imminent risks.”
Work crews removed hazardous trees from a collective 95 mile stretch of highways last week.
The state previously said it estimated “hundreds of thousands of trees” would need to be removed from OR-22, which runs along the Santiam River. Benenati said now that fire crews have battled the blazes down and contained them in some places, the state has a better assessment of the total damage on OR-22 and elsewhere.
OR-224 has more trees per acre, she said, than OR-22, and more trees that are deemed imminent risks as well as “phase 2” trees, which are also at risk of falling down.
“The estimates are still fluid as crews work in the areas and we head into winter,” Benenati said in an email.
Collectively across the five most damaged highways, “most if not all” of an estimated 441,400 “phase two” trees may still need to be removed.
The state hasn’t finished removing the estimated 15,000 phase 1 trees on OR-22, she said,
“because of the fire activity and the ability of crews to safely access the areas of damaged trees.”
A preliminary assessment showed nearly three miles of guardrail on OR-22 will need to be replaced and an additional 5.5 miles of guardrails on OR-138.
Several hundred road signs were damaged across the state, with the most damage being 424 destroyed signs on OR-126.
-- Andrew Theen; atheen@oregonian.com; 503-294-4026; @andrewtheen
"along" - Google News
October 01, 2020 at 07:46AM
https://ift.tt/3l3d3yM
Oregon highways along wildfire ravaged forests reopen, nearly half a million trees may still need to be remov - OregonLive
"along" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2z4LAdj
https://ift.tt/35rGyU8
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Oregon highways along wildfire ravaged forests reopen, nearly half a million trees may still need to be remov - OregonLive"
Post a Comment