Oregon Expects Reopening and Repairing Roads Damaged by Wildfires Will Take Months

Fire damage along Oregon Route 138, near Susan Creek.

Fire damage along Oregon Route 138, near Susan Creek. Oregon DOT

 

Connecting state and local government leaders

Over 200 miles of Oregon roads were closed as of last week due to the catastrophic blazes. The state’s transportation department is dealing with problems like hazardous trees and rockslide risks.

As Oregon looks to recover from the catastrophic wildfires that have been burning there in recent weeks, one of the difficulties the state faces is getting roads repaired and reopened.

Thousands of burnt trees that could fall on roadways need to be cleared. Vegetation that helped to stabilize steep slopes along roads has been incinerated, raising the risk of debris sliding onto roads, especially during and after rain storms. There are also places where the road surface itself was damaged by heat and flames and may need to be repaved or otherwise fixed. 

Road signs, drainage ditches, culverts and bridges are all in need of inspection and possible repairs as well.

“We have tens of thousands of trees that we need to cut before we can even look at what’s next for opening roads,” Angela Beers Seydel, a public information officer for the Oregon Department of Transportation, said by phone on Friday. “Trees are burned right up to the side of the road.”

“These are the worst conditions that experienced staff have ever seen,” she added.

A landslide on Oregon Route 224. (Oregon Department of Transportation)

On Monday, the Oregon Department of Forestry was monitoring 10 major fires burning in different parts of the state. Wildfires in Oregon this year have burned over 1 million acres. 

The fire situation there became more severe when strong winds blew through the state around Labor Day. State officials have confirmed the fires have claimed at least nine lives and have destroyed about 2,300 homes, the Associated Press reported on Monday.

As of Thursday morning last week, the state had about 240 miles of road closed because of the wildfires. Oregon officials are providing updates about the closures on the state's TripCheck website, which has an interactive road map and other materials.

The state has requested $30 million in federal aid to help cover the cost of road repairs, Seydel said.

One of Oregon’s congressional representatives, Peter DeFazio, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said last week that he had secured $5 million in relief funding to help cover the cost of repairing road damage from the blazes.

The state’s DOT plans to take a phased approach to reopening fire-damaged roads, many of them two-lane highways in rural areas.

During the initial phase, making sure firefighters and first responders can get where they need to go is a priority and, after that, restoring restricted access for residents in areas that burned. As conditions improve, travel via the damaged roads will gradually return to normal, but Seydel said this is likely to take months in some areas.

She said Oregon DOT has about 230 frontline workers involved in the wildfire response and recovery effort and that contractors are being brought in to assist as well. Seydel also noted that some agency employees have been personally affected by the fires. 

“We do have people who have lost their homes and they are out there on the line,” she said. “They are out there continuing to help.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.