| OTIA III State Bridge Delivery Program |
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| Web Brief (Dec 05) |
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ODOT bridge work spurs Burns business during normally lean winter
BURNS, Ore.—When Silver Spur Motel owner Robert Carlson bought the place in August 2004, he braced himself for the slow flow of income that most Burns business owners experience during the cold winter months.
But this fall and winter were different. That’s because construction workers on nearby Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) state bridge projects flocked to the motel for its reasonable prices and comfortable rooms.
“The bridge work has really helped increase business this winter,” Carlson said. “I have 17 rooms booked this week to flaggers and pavers. And I have some guys staying as many as four to five nights a week.”
Nearby, Ye Olde Castle Restaurant fuels bridge workers with hearty breakfasts and daily lunch specials—from meatloaf to egg salad sandwiches.
“Usually, we rely on most of our business from travelers during the summer and local residents during the winter,” said Lisa Camacho, the restaurant manager. “But now we see at least 10 bridge workers in here every day, and I’m on a first-name basis with most of them.”
Ye Olde Castle and the Silver Spur Motel are not the only local businesses benefiting from area bridge projects. In addition to motels and restaurants, construction workers are spending money at gas stations and grocery stores in Burns. Some stations are even providing fuel for vehicles and heavy equipment used at the bridge construction sites.
The local economy in Burns got its wintertime boost from the OTIA III State Bridge Delivery Program. The bridge program is part of ODOT’s 10-year, $3 billion Oregon Transportation Investment Act (OTIA) program. During the next decade, OTIA funds will repair or replace hundreds of bridges, pave and maintain city and county roads, improve and expand interchanges, add new capacity to Oregon’s highway system, and remove freight bottlenecks statewide.
About 18 family-wage jobs are sustained for every $1 million spent on transportation construction in Oregon. Each year during the OTIA program, construction projects will sustain about 5,000 family-wage jobs.
As of February, nearly 1,200 people were working on OTIA-funded bridge projects statewide, earning a total income of more than $4.5 million. The economic boost provided by OTIA funding is especially welcome news in Burns and other rural Oregon communities, where unemployment often outpaces the statewide average.
Throughout eastern Oregon, 54 bridges are slated for repair or replacement work. Construction for ODOT’s bridge program will take place in Harney, Malheur, Morrow, Umatilla, Wallowa, Union, Baker, and Grant counties.
State bridge work will continue on U.S. 395 and U.S. 26 in the Burns area well into 2010 — good news for local business owners. In gearing up for construction on area bridge projects, contractors often seek local companies to provide materials, such as concrete and aggregate, and vital services such as recycling, heavy equipment hauling, and vehicle and equipment repair.
“The fact that we can expect some regular construction business in Burns over the next few years, especially during the winter months, is great,” Ye Olde Castle manager Camacho said.
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