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U.S. 101 between Yachats and Florence opens for the rest of the day Friday; closes at 7 a.m. Saturday to retrieve equipment

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Rod Stevens, ODOT Contractors working to fix a slide and retrieve their equipment that fell over the side of U,S. Highway 101 at Bray’s Point Feb. 12 have opened the highway for the rest of Friday.

 

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com

A four-mile section of U.S. Highway 101 between Yachats and Florence was reopened with flaggers mid-morning Friday as crews prepare to haul a large piece of equipment that fell onto ocean’s edge early Saturday.

But the highway at Bray’s Point will close again at 7 a.m. Saturday when two massive wreckers drag a 28-ton drilling machine up 150 feet from the rocks below.

Contractors for the Oregon Department of Transportation got the machine upright Friday morning and removed an attached generator, said Angela Beers Seydel, an ODOT spokeswoman. They thought about trying to haul the drill up Friday, but decided to wait until Saturday.

So the plan is to close the road entirely at 7 a.m. Saturday, take all the time necessary to lift out the equipment, and truck it away.

Contractors “may still need up to 12 hours Saturday to pull it out,” said Beers Seydel. “But as soon as we get it up and out, the road will be opened and flagged around the road repair 24/7.”

Beers Seydel also explained that the road reopened 30 minutes late Thursday night – upsetting a handful of people – because of an equipment failure that blocked the construction site.

The issue is a small section of a 95-year-old wall holding up the edge of the highway at Bray’s Point, just south of Bob Creek. It was discovered failing in January, and GeoStabilization International of Colorado brought to reinforce it.

Contractors were able to get their drilling equipment upright Friday before deciding that high surf made it too risky to retrieve it. The operation will take place starting at 7 a.m. Saturday.

But as drilling equipment and an operator were working Feb. 12, the wall collapsed and sent the drill and the GeoStabilization employee to the rocks below. The operator was taken to Peace Harbor Medical Center in Florence, treated for injuries and released.

The retaining wall — rocks and grout — that collapsed was part of the original highway construction project.

During the day, ODOT has flaggers and blockades at Cooks Chasm/Thor’s Well on Cape Perpetua in the north and at Tenmile Creek in the south. At night they move to the north and south sides of Bray’s point to let vehicles through.

Cost of the repair work is estimated to be $400,000.