I-5 bridge construction in Oregon shouldn't affect traffic

The Associated Press

2/14/2008

ROSEBURG, Ore. — Construction of an Interstate 5 bridge in Southern Oregon should not be affected by a racketeering lawsuit the state attorney general's office filed against the contractor, officials say.

Last week, Attorney General Hardy Myers accused Ross Bros. & Co. of trying to defraud the Oregon Department of Transportation of more than $1.1 million by submitting false claims on a different construction project, involving a bridge over a railroad at Ontario.

Ross Bros., based in Brooks, denied the allegations and said the lawsuit was without merit.

Despite the lawsuit, the company will be allowed to continue work on seven projects under contract with the Department of Transportation, said agency spokesman Patrick Cooney.

That includes work on the 951-foot Shady Bridge to carry Interstate 5 south of Roseburg.

That bridge is expected to be finished this spring even though work has been idled since October 2006 because grout was discovered leaking from the stem walls that support the bridge deck. A second company, Georgia-based Freyssinet, has been working since late September to repair the problems.

John Corven, a Florida bridge design and construction expert, has been examining thousands of pages of documents to determine who was at fault for the problems.

The bridge was nearly 90 percent complete when the cracks were discovered. Once the repairs are finished and side rails added to the deck, it will be ready for traffic and will meet the original design and load standards, officials said.

Both northbound and southbound traffic on Interstate 5 will be routed onto the new bridge, the existing structure will be demolished and another bridge will be constructed, to be completed in late 2009. Once done, that bridge will carry the southbound traffic.