Cold temps complicate Bend paving

Published 5:00 am Saturday, September 22, 2012

Cold nights shut down a portion of Reed Market Road for paving Friday, and will close the stretch between the Bend Parkway and the Bond Street roundabout on Monday.

Today’s Leadman triathlon will create a temporary closure on Mount Washington Drive, with the section between Chandler Avenue and Century Drive shut between 8 and 11 a.m.

Spokesman Justin Finestone said nighttime temperatures last week dipped too low to allow asphalt to cure properly, upsetting the city plan to repave Reed Market Road at night. Repaving was delayed, but continued cool temperatures again prevented night paving, so the project was shifted to daylight hours.

The portion of Reed Market Road between the Bond Street Roundabout and the Bill Healy Bridge was repaved Friday, and once Monday’s work is complete, the city’s summer road maintenance effort will begin winding down for the season.

Construction on Monday will also close the southbound on and off ramps for traffic along the Parkway.

Signs designating preferred detour routes will be posted between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m.

The three roundabouts currently under construction are expected to be completed next month, Finestone said.

That will allow traffic flows to return to normal through the intersections of Powers Road and Brookswood Avenue, Northeast 18th Street and Empire Avenue, and Mount Washington Drive and Simpson Avenue.

The roundabouts are the first projects to be funded under a $30 million bond approved by Bend voters in May 2011. The bond will finance multiple street repairs next year, including a full overhaul of Reed Market Road between Third Street and Northeast 27th Street. Northwest 27th will be resurfaced between St. Charles Bend and Butler Market Road, and if other projects do not consume the entire budget, Northwest 14th Street would be rebuilt between Simpson and Galveston avenues.

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