Riverside Drive Roadway Improvement - Phase II

Linn County Road Department

Capital Improvements

Riverside Drive Roadway Improvement - Phase II

Project Description:

Road improvement to the section of Riverside Drive from Queen Avenue/Oakville Road to Meadow Road were constructed in 2018 (Phase I). Phase II would continue from Meadow Road, south to Highway 34.

Riverside Drive is one of the main through access roads from Highway 34 to the City of Albany. Currently, this section of Riverside Drive has two 12-foot travel lanes with 1-foot paved shoulders and steep embankments to the bottom of the roadside ditches. These conditions make it unsafe for pedestrian and bicyclists.

The project will widen 3.4 miles of Riverside Drive from the intersection with Meadow Drive to Highway 34. This project will accommodate a typical section consisting of widened paved shoulders for bikeway safety, gradual sloping embankments, improved drainage and better road alignment in some locations to improve visibility, improve drainage, and improve accesses to properties as well as road intersections.

There are a substantial number of existing driveways along this segment of roadway. Each of these driveways will be improved to consist of adequate radii where the access meets Riverside Drive in order to allow for safe ingress/egress to each property. Adequately sized culverts will be installed at each driveway, as necessary, to improve the current drainage system and allow for the Road Department adequate access to clean and maintain the ditches.

Existing cross culverts will be replaced in order to accommodate the new ditch lines and added width of the roadway prism. Existing mailbox supports will be replaced with new, crash worthy supports. Any existing fences, vegetation, or other improvements along property frontage will be relocated or the property owner will be compensated to remove or relocate these features due to the project.

Traffic control measures, inlcuding signing and striping will be installed to accommodate the new roadway structure.

Located at the southern segement of Riverside Drive, just beyond the intersection of Orleans Road, there are a set of switchback curves that pose a signifigant safety issue for trucks initiating these curves. Due to the geometry of these curves, the longer trucks are unable make the tight curves within their designated lane. This segment of roadway will be realigned to improve the radius of these curves to allow for safer maneuvering of trucks and potential coflicts between trucks, pedestrians and bicyclists.

An alternative to eliminate the need to realign the switchback curves would be to close the Riverside Drive intersection at Orleans Road and route all southbound traffic onto Orleans Road and out to Highway 34. The portion of Riverside from Highway 34 to Orleans would be closed to local traffic only.

Estimated Project Cost: $7,100,000

Funding Requests:

• 2022 – Reconnecting Communities Pilot Discretionary Grant Program (RCP)
  • Unsuccessful
• 2023 – All Roads Transportation Safety (ARTS)
  • Evaluation in process

County Facility Number: CR0001

Project Number: CR1503

Please email roads@co.linn.or.us if you have any comments or questions regarding this project.