Road repair projects planned in La Grande

Published 9:00 am Thursday, June 23, 2022

LA GRANDE — A large portion of one of La Grande’s busiest roadways is set to receive a major makeover this summer.

A 1,200-yard stretch of C Avenue and Gekeler Lane, running from Fourth Street to Aries Lane, will be repaired with funding from the city of La Grande. It will be one of three street repair projects that will cost a total of $1.3 million the city has planned for 2022 and 2023.

The work on C Avenue and Gekeler will be done by a private contractor.

“We are taking bids now,” said Kyle Carpenter, the La Grande public works director.

He said the stretch of roadway is in serious need of repair because of its age.

Carpenter said the work on C Avenue and Gekeler Lane will begin either in August or September and will take about a week to complete. The roadway will be closed during the day while work is being done. Traffic will be diverted to Fourth and 16th streets during the closures.

The repair work will involve a grinding inlay process. A layer of pavement will be ground down and the ground-out asphalt removed. Next, a new layer of asphalt will be installed to restore the structural strength of the roadway.

Carpenter said it would be much easier to simply place a new layer of asphalt over the portion of Gekeler Lane. This cannot be done, though, he said, because it would result in the roadway having an uneven surface, in some cases rising above the curb running along it, and would impede water drainage.

The grinding inlay work will be done on the 400-yard portion of C Avenue from Fourth Street to B Avenue and the 800-yard portion of Gekeler Lane running from B Avenue to Aries Lane. The Gekeler Lane project should take about a week, Carpenter said.

Other projects

The Gekeler Lane project is one of three La Grande will be tackling over the next year. Another, which could start as early as July, will involve two aging stretches of roadway on Third Street and G Avenue. The Third Street stretch will run from F Avenue to I Avenue, and the G Avenue stretch from Second Street to Fourth Street. A layer of asphalt 2 inches thick will be placed on the roadway.

The paving work on both Third Street and G Avenue will each take one week to complete. The project will be paid for with funding from a federal Surface Transportation Block grant.

The third project will repair eight stretches of roadway in La Grande that are also in poor condition.

Repaving will take place on Penn Avenue from Pine to Willow streets; Jefferson Avenue from Second to Walnut streets; L Avenue from Second to First streets; D Avenue from First to Second streets and Fourth to Sixth streets; Pine Street from Jackson to X avenues; Z Avenue from Depot to Spruce streets; and Pioneer Street from Palmer Avenue north to Optimist Park.

Carpenter said the stretches of roadway on Willow Street, Jefferson Avenue, L Avenue, Fourth Street, Pine Street, Z Avenue and Pioneer Street are in such bad shape that it would not be cost effective to do patchwork repairs. He said adding a full layer of asphalt to each of the eight sections would cost the city less in the long run.

This set of projects, which will be funded by a federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement grant, will not begin until 2023.

Carpenter said he is delighted that funding is available to do the road projects now on the city’s docket.

“This is an exciting opportunity,” he said.