Delays Likely East of Walton
Beginning today crews with the Oregon Department of Transportation will be working on a section of Highway 126 that was recently affected by rains. Just east of Walton a portion of the north side hill slid at between milepost 36 and 36.7 where ODOT had recently completed a widening project. ODOT will be working to shore up that section of roadway to include a rock pad beside the road and rock will be added to the hillside for stability. The work is expected to take about a week and there will be flaggers in place to direct traffic flow.
Double-Digit Cases Reported Again
It was another double digit day for reported COVID cases in Florence. Lane County Public Health reported an additional 17 cases as the total two week count reaches 102. It is likely by week’s end that the Florence count will reach a milestone of 1000 cases since the beginning of the pandemic. There have recently been cases that have had to be hospitalized at Riverbend including at least two teenagers according to Peace Harbor Emergency Director Dr. Willie Foster. The individuals were unvaccinated. The situation here and in Lane County continues to be disconcerting for Health officials as numbers have tripled in the past week. LCPH Liaison Jason Davis says he believes this upward trend will continue.
DEVNW Updates City on CLT
At Last night’s City Council Meeting the council heard an update and overview of the success of the Community Lane Trust project by DEV Northwest. Luis Mendoza outlined the project and thanked the council for their support of the housing development that it completed on Airport Road. He said while the process was not without complications, it was the City Council and staff that rallied in support.
“And the really City just rallied and made sure that there was really good communication, really good process. There wasn’t anything holding us up and when we encountered some of those barriers they were very open on that communication line.”
Mayor Henry added that he hoped there might be other possibilities to work with DEVNW in the future. He said while 12 families benefitted there are still many more in need of affordable housing.
Weekend COVID-19 Totals
Weekend totals for COVID-19 were released by the Oregon Health Authority yesterday. There were 18,538 new cases reported statewide. The numbers contain the dates of January 7th through the 9th. according to OHA numbers hospital bed availability continues to dwindle. About 7% of ICU and non-ICU beds exists across the state.
