SALEM — Summertime — and the paving’s easy. The Oregon Department of Transportation is embarking on dozens of projects to fix up roads and other transportation infrastructure across the state this summer.
Paving work tends to ramp up in the summer, because workers need certain temperatures and conditions to pave.
It can’t be too hot, but it can’t be too cold, either, so that the asphalt sets properly and lasts as long as possible, said an agency spokeswoman.
The department does other construction work year-round, when weather allows.
All told, ODOT has 92 projects on its agenda this summer, from cleaning culverts to installing guardrails.
Some projects are being paid for with more than $5 billion raised by a major transportation funding program approved by the Oregon Legislature two years ago.
Sometimes construction can interfere with travel plans, so before hitting the road to camp, hike or attend a rodeo, consider checking ODOT’s website, TripCheck.com, for information about possible delays on your route.
Here’s a rundown, by the numbers, that shows what the transportation department expects to undertake this summer, from Medford to Enterprise to Portland:
• 450 miles paved. For perspective, Interstate 5 from border to border is 308 miles.
• 15 miles of roadway repaired.
• 200 miles of road chip sealed. Chip sealing is a process the agency uses to extend the useful life of a road before it has to be paved altogether.
• 780,000 tons of asphalt the agency expects to use in paving and maintenance.
• 200,000is the share of that expected to be recycled pavement, which the agency says saves fuel, aggregate sources, asphalt oil, and water.
• 314 miles of rumble strips — those indents in the road that “rumble” when you veer out of your lane or off the road — installed.
• 21,086 pavement markers replaced.
• 14 miles of guardrail maintained and fixed.
• 47 miles of guardrail installed.
• 3,097 culverts — the structures that let water flow underneath a road — cleaned.
• 15 miles of sidewalk built.
• 650 ramps installed in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
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