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Officials Re-open One Lane Of Highway 38 Late Sunday Night

ODOT

Update: Monday April 17.  Highway 38 has one lane opened to traffic.  Expect ten to fifteen minute delays.

Update: Sunday, April 16. Transportation officials hope to have one lane of Highway 38 reopened late Sunday night. Monday, ODOT says drivers should expect delays of 10-15 minutes as flaggers will provide traffic control Travelers are asked to drive with extreme caution.

A semi-truck struck a bridge Wednesday on the road between Roseburg and Reedsport.

The damage to the Scottsburg Bridge made it unsafe to bear weight. A contractor from Monroe, Washington is repairing the bridge’s steel truss using a heat-strengthening process.

Jared Castle is a spokesman for ODOT. He says it’s fortunate the crash occurred before summer, but the road closure is a big inconvenience since the closest detours entail 100 miles of travel.

Castle: “This road carries just over 3 thousand people a day, in what we call the off season. During the summer peak, travel on this road really spikes up to about 4,800, 4,900 vehicles a day. Summer tourism travel is vital to the community of Reedsport and the communities along 38 as well as down the south coast.”

Credit ODOT
Flame On is the contractor working to repair Scottsburg Bridge.

ODOT estimates repair costs will total about $300 thousand. They’re hoping to eventually replace the bridge—a $30 to $40 million project.

Rachael McDonald is KLCC’s host for All Things Considered on weekday afternoons. She also is the editor of the KLCC Extra, the daily digital newspaper. Rachael has a BA in English from the University of Oregon. She started out in public radio as a newsroom volunteer at KLCC in 2000.