State Eyes Abandoning Highway 20 Realignment

Byline: Saul Hubbard The Register-Guard

Facing an additional $90 million in cost overruns, the Oregon Department of Transportation is considering abandoning the ill-fated realignment of Highway 20 just west of Eddyville.

Continuing landslides on the Coast Range slopes through and over which the 5.5-mile stretch of highway is designed to run mean that ODOT now expects the project to cost close to $400 million.

That dwarfs the original cost of $140 million - which was already the most expensive highway project ODOT had ever undertaken - and is almost 30 percent higher than the $310 million estimate ODOT made just two months ago.

ODOT officials will request the rest of the money they say is needed to complete the project - $176 million - from the Oregon Transportation Commission at its meeting in Salem on Dec. 19. The commission, which has five members appointed by the governor, oversees ODOT.

But ODOT also will present the commissioners …

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Publication information: Article title: State Eyes Abandoning Highway 20 Realignment. Contributors: Not available. Newspaper title: The Register Guard (Eugene, OR). Publication date: December 12, 2012. Page number: A1. © Not available. COPYRIGHT 2012 Gale Group.

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