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Crossing replacement to close part of St. Johns Road

Closure to start this evening and last as long as Monday morning

By Eric Florip, Columbian Transportation & Environment Reporter
Published: November 21, 2014, 12:00am
2 Photos
Zachary Kaufman/The Columbian
Signs are already in place warning of an all-weekend closure of Northeast St. Johns Road at the railroad crossing near Northeast 68th Street.
Zachary Kaufman/The Columbian Signs are already in place warning of an all-weekend closure of Northeast St. Johns Road at the railroad crossing near Northeast 68th Street. Photo Gallery

A complete railroad crossing replacement will force a weekend-long closure of Northeast St. Johns Road near Northeast 68th Street starting tonight, according to Clark County Public Works.

The closure will allow crews to rip out the existing rails and ties where the Chelatchie Prairie Railroad crosses Northeast St. Johns Road. Workers will lay down new rails and concrete “tubs” to support the new crossing. The end result should be a smoother ride for the thousands of vehicles that use the roadway daily, said project construction engineer David Dolan.

“It’s in very bad shape,” Dolan said of the existing crossing. “It’s a pretty rough crossing.”

St. Johns is the second railroad crossing to be rebuilt by the county recently, after crews replaced the crossing at Northwest Lakeshore Avenue earlier this month. The two crossings combined will cost $486,000 to replace, Dolan said. Much of the Chelatchie Prairie Railroad, now owned by the county, was built in the late 1800s and early 1900s. For many decades, it was used to haul logs and wood products.

This weekend’s closure will shut down both directions of St. Johns at the railroad crossing. Crews with Vancouver-based contractor West Rail Construction will close one lane in each direction starting at 6 p.m. today, according the county. The entire roadway will be closed no earlier than 9 p.m., and open again no later than 5 a.m. Monday.

The county hopes the closure won’t last that long, Dolan said. The last closure on Lakeshore Avenue ended Sunday. But St. Johns Road is a wider street with much more traffic. An estimated 9,400 vehicles use that stretch of road on a weekend day, according to Clark County Public Works spokesman Jeff Mize.

Access to all businesses in the area will be maintained, according to the county. Drivers will, however, have to use a detour to get from one side of the closure to the other. Northeast Highway 99 and Northeast Andresen Road are two other north-south corridors that run parallel to St. Johns Road.

C-Tran’s No. 25 bus route will be on a detour through the weekend. Buses will use Northeast 63rd Street, Andresen Road and Northeast 78th Street to get around the closure, according to the transit agency.

The county has also alerted emergency responders to the closure.

This weekend’s work is not weather-dependent, Dolan said.

“We’re going to go forward rain or shine,” he said.

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Columbian Transportation & Environment Reporter