The Oregon Department of Transportation announced plans this week for a series of construction projects along I-84 between Pendleton and La Grande to make the stretch of freeway safer for motorists.
The work is based on the I-84 Corridor Management Plan, a study that looked at road safety between Boardman and Ontario. It determined a high need to reduce speed-related crashes, crash severity and distracted driving on the entire stretch of roadway, and to add better real-time information on weather and traffic.
The first phase includes $11 million worth of projects, including $4 million funded by the transportation bill passed at the end of the 2017 Legislative session. Work will begin in 2019 and is expected to conclude in 2020.
Some of the I-84 safety projects in the works will include adding message boards; road and weather sensors; LED lighting; road cameras; snow zone signs; and curve warning signs with flashing beacons.
The corridor management plan has a list of goals it hopes to accomplish by 2025, including reducing serious and speed-related crashes by 20% and weather-related crashes by 25%, communicating dangerous road conditions to all travelers within five minutes of the condition being recognized and preventing truck parking from spilling back onto freeways.
The study also notes that during the summer a key cause of severe crashes is speed, while in the winter a key cause is following too close.
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Source: East Oregonian
