After millions of dollars in costs and years of delays, the Oregon Dept. of Transportation has labeled as a failure the landslide mitigation on an unfinished four-mile stretch of U.S. 20 between Pioneer Mountain and Eddyville.
In an attempt to bypass a windy 10-mile roadway prone to landslide damage, Yaquina River Constructors—whose parent company is Watsonville, Calif.-based Granite Construction Co.—planned to build a total of 11 bridges for its design-build contract. Seven are now complete. The remaining four bridges were to range from 600 ft to 1,100 ft, with heights between 100 ft and 210 ft.