Page 9 - Copyright 2013 - Pamplin Media Group

hold an open house at 10 a.m.,
Thursday, Nov. 7, with coffee
and a presentation titled “All
You Wanted to Know But Were
Afraid to Ask.” The talk will be
followed by lunch at noon. Vets
are asked to RSVP to 541-475-
5228 by Nov. 4, and the first
100 to sign up will receive
lunch for free.
• The Madras Elks Lodge
and Black Bear Diner also
usually honor vets on Veterans
Day. Watch the Pioneer for
details.
The school district isn't the
only public body in the midst of
a wave of construction projects.
The city of Madras has at least
four large projects underway.
City crews have wrapped up
their preliminary work on a
project to pave several roads
and add a rail spur at the
Madras Industrial Site.
With nearly $1 million in
grants for the two projects, the
city has hired 7 Peaks Paving, of
Bend, to pave Hess, Canal and
Mill Streets, and West Rail
Construction Co., of Vancouver,
Wash., to build a rail spur next
to Wilbur-Ellis and rehabilitate
railroad crossings at the
industrial site.
The Bend contractor is
expected to begin the paving
project in March or early April,
and have it completed by the
end of June.
The rail project will allow
Wilbur-Ellis to bring in rail
shipments of fertilizer to benefit
local growers. The contractor
will have 150 days to complete
the project when the notice to
proceed is issued, according to
Jeff Hurd, director of the
Madras Public Works
Department.
The next project to get
underway will be the L Street
to Fairgrounds Road
transportation enhancement
project. Sidewalks, landscaping,
trees and lighting will be
installed with transportation
enhancement grant funding
from the Oregon Department of
Transportation, which
amounted to about $1 million.
The long-awaited project will
start this winter and be
completed by the end of June.
The city received grants of
about $371,000 to make
improvements on Northwest
Berg Drive and Cherry Lane.
The city is preparing to go out
for bid and select a contractor to
extend Berg Drive 850 feet, and
pave Cherry Lane from U.S.
Highway 26 to the railroad
tracks.
The south Madras highway
realignment plan, approved by
the Madras City Council in
October 2008, is finally
expected to go out for bid next
summer for its first phase.
Under the multiphase
realignment plan, northbound
Highway 97 traffic will veer to
the east at L Street, and join up
with South Adams Drive,
which will become a one-way
northbound from Tracie Street.
The total project is estimated
at $18 million, but the first
phase will only be about one-
third of that. ODOT has
pledged $5 million in State
Transportation Improvement
Program funds, which will be
added to the federal earmark of
$681,800, and the $350,000
contributed by the city over the
course of several years, for a
total of $6,031,800.
Most of the right-of-way
issues have been resolved, but
negotiations continue on design
aspects. Currently, the ODOT
project is expected to go out to
bid in August 2014.
“The design team plans to
have another open house when
the plans get finalized,” said
Hurd.
It was a banner year for
volleyball in Jefferson County.
Both Madras and Culver high
schools went undefeated in
league to win their conference
championships. Both are
hoping for success at the state
tournament.
Madras tied for the league
title last season, but won it
outright under first-year coach
Rhea Cardwell.
After a tremendous regular
season, Culver will have the
defending champ tag on their
backs heading into state. But it
shouldn’t concern Coach Randi
Viggiano’s squad.
Although they have but one
senior, Gabrielle Alley, the
Bulldogs are experienced.
Dynasty?
CELEBRATING JEFFERSON COUNTY 9
Projects will
keep Madras
crews busy
this season
Spiker squads
shoot for
state glory
Shelby Mauritson, right, helped the Madras White
Buffalos to a perfect Tri-Valley record. Culver, mean-
while, was also unbeatened in league, losing just one set
of 49, and is a favorite to win the Class 2A state title
again this year.