Crews are working six days a week to address damage to Oregon Highway 6 around milepost 35 and U.S. Highway 101 around milepost 102 caused by December storms and with an estimated price around $4 million combined. An Oregon Department of Transportation spokesperson said that work on Highway 6 was expected to take a further two to three weeks, while the repairs to Highway 101 were anticipated to take four to six weeks, with traffic to remain restricted to one lane of travel throughout.
Both lane closures were caused by landslides during an atmospheric river that pummeled the coast the week before Christmas, with both roads completely closed temporarily on December 18. Crews from the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) were able to reopen one lane of traffic on each highway by the next day, but outside contractors were called in to evaluate and complete the long-term repairs.
On Highway 6, the slide occurred in a known problem area where a large section of hillside moves each year, and even as crews were working, they were forced to temporarily close both lanes of travel on January 4, after additional sluffing occurred on the open eastbound lane…