Plan ahead southern Coast travelers! U.S. 101 will be closed south of #Bandon the weekend of Sept. 19-21 replace a culvert deep under the highway in difficult terrain.
Our work zone will be located at Bearhead Mountain Lane, about six miles south of Bandon. The closure of U.S. 101 is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 19, and the highway is expected to reopen late Sunday night, Sept. 21.
There are no local road connections around the work zone. The only available detour is a lengthy drive along U.S. 199 (Redwood Highway), I-5 and OR 42 (Coos Bay-Roseburg Highway).
While the highway is closed, contractors will dig down more than 20 feet to remove the failing pipe and install a larger culvert. The work zone is sandwiched between a steep slope on one side of the highway, wetlands on the other and a stream that snakes its way in between.
In most circumstances, we attempt to stage projects in a way that keeps highways open to traffic. However, in this instance that would require a single-lane bypass to be constructed either through a hillside or over wetlands, relocating the stream while adding more cost to the project and disrupting highway traffic for about six months.
By using this rapid replacement approach we are expecting to save more than $1 million from the total cost of the project while reducing overall traffic impacts.
We understand that highway closures can affect communities near and far, so we scheduled this closure outside the summer travel season. While this will be a quiet weekend in many coastal communities, there are still several events planned for the weekend of Sept. 20-21 in nearby #CoosBay.
It may take a little longer to reach Coos Bay, so plan ahead and factor in extra time for your trip. Visit TripCheck.com for the latest road conditions.
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