Highway 101 Section to Close
The section of Highway 101 that collapsed and caused the wreck of a drill rig and injured one will now be closed. The Oregon Department of Transportation has announced that beginning Wednesday morning highway 101 from Sea Lion Caves to Cook’s chasm will be closed during the hours of 7 am and 7 pm. ODOT says it is necessary to shut down the roadway in order to have unhindered access to the portion of road that is continuing to shift causing a dangerous situation for drivers. There will be flaggers on hand for the overnight hours. The initial crack in the roadway was noticed in January and during work on Friday of last week a drill rig crashed to the rocks below injuring the rig operator. ODOT is closing 11.5 miles of the roadway because there are no accessible turn-arounds for large vehicles. Local access will be allowed but the section of roadway under repair will be completely closed. Crews will be rebuilding a retaining wall that failed causing the damage. Work is expected to take at least a week and there is still likely to be delays after the section is reopened. ODOT says it will likely have to close the section again after repairs are done to recover the drill rig.
3 COVID-19 Cases For Florence as Numbers Decline Countywide
Lane County coronavirus numbers continue to drop as does the entire state. There were only 26 reported cases yesterday for the county but there were 3 new cases for the Florence area added to the list bringing the total in Florence to 159 cases. The state reported 184 new cases yesterday. Part of the decrease in numbers could be due to the winter storm across the state that has impacted travel in the tri-county area of Portland, but nonetheless number have been steadily declining recently. There was also a decline in the number of vaccines administered over the past several days. There were less than 7000 doses administered over the weekend. Numbers were for Saturday and Sunday only. The number of doses being delivered to Oregon has also decreased. The state saw a smaller supply of the vaccine arrive with less than 1,000 new doses since Friday. The slowdown is due to an overall limit of vaccines nationwide.
Port Meeting Cancelled
The Port of Siuslaw Commissioners meeting scheduled for tomorrow evening has been cancelled. The port will meet next for its scheduled meeting in March.
Radio Bingo Game Saturday
If you are looking for a way to battle the COVID-19 quarantine there will be a socially distanced event this Saturday at the Siuslaw Middle School parking lot. Coast Insurance is hosting a Radio Bingo game that will allow families and individuals play bingo while parked in their cars. The event is free and there will be prizes donated by local businesses. The Boys and Girls Club of Western Lane County will be selling refreshments in order to raise money for the club. People can also donate to the club at the event. Drive ups are permitted, but registration is preferred. You can reserve your spot by calling Coast Insurance in Florence. The event will begin at noon on Saturday and last until 2 pm. You will have to have a working FM radio in your car to participate as the numbers will be called on KCST 106.9.
