October 24 was a big day for the small community of Mt. Vernon located along U.S. Highway 26, nine miles west of John Day in eastern Oregon. For one thing, the Grant County Hot Air Balloon Festival was taking place and using Mt. Vernon school grounds to launch over a dozen colorful air ships during the weekend. While the primitive form of air travel was being enjoyed overhead, Mt. Vernon residents took a few minutes out of their day to also celebrate improvement for the most primitive form of travel, walking. Those improvements were part of ODOT's $400,000 Mt. Vernon Sidewalk/Streetscape Enhancement Project completed earlier in the month. The project included a $75,000 transportation enhancement grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) for new vintage style streetlights.

Watch out for temporary traffic signals in construction work zones on U.S. 395, U.S. 26 and Oregon 19.

Oct. 28 - Drivers on U.S. 26 east of Mt. Vernon should expect travel lanes to shift to the newly constructed John Day River (Coles) Bridge to allow contractors for the Oregon Department of Transportation to replace the second half of the bridge. The bridge is located at milepost 155.8 in Grant County.

Eastbound and westbound traffic will move from the old structure to the new structure to the south. Flaggers will direct traffic. Motorists should expect delays and use caution when traveling in the work zone.

Following the switch, traffic will be limited to alternating one-way traffic controlled by signals. Motorists are asked to plan for delays, drive with extra care and obey the temporary traffic signals during the construction work.

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