ODOT Eagle Creek Fire Update

Eagle Creek Fire

ODOT Update

5 pm Monday Sept. 11, 2017

Contacts

Dave Thompson, 503-860-8021

Kimberly Dinwiddie, 503-539-8454

Don Hamilton, 503-704-7452

ODOT will open I-84 as soon as it’s safe

Westbound I-84

• I-84 westbound will open first. But the area of I-84 around Cascade Locks is still an active evacuation zone and the Eagle Creek Fire is still burning. ODOT will continue to work closely with fire officials and law enforcement to determine when westbound lanes can reopen safely.

Eastbound I-84

• ODOT needs another week to complete rock scaling and removal operations along eastbound I-84. But the lanes won’t reopen until fire no longer threatens the road.
• The biggest impediment to re-opening the I-84 eastbound lanes is the threat of falling rocks, mostly around the Toothrock Tunnel. The work is slow in steep, difficult terrain and reaches high up the hillside.

Historic Columbia River Highway. The HCRH remains closed with no schedule to reopen. ODOT is keeping the highway open for firefighters but it is not safe for public travel.

Danger trees. ODOT has removed about 2,500 trees that were in danger of falling onto I-84; about 1,000 remain to be removed. Tree removal should be finished in the next few days.

Bridges and tunnels. ODOT inspected 70 bridges and culverts along I-84 and found minimal damage. An inspection of the 1936 Toothrock Tunnel on I-84 showed minimal rock damage to portals. The liner inside the Oneonta Tunnel on the HCRH completely burned and engineers found unstable rock slopes at each end.

Slide threat. In the weeks ahead, ODOT will be assessing the danger of future slides in areas where underbrush burned.

The closure of I-84 and the Historic Columbia River Highway is difficult on everyone who lives in, travels through, or loves the Columbia Gorge.

ODOT will reopen these roadways as quickly as possible, as soon as it’s safe to do so.