Imagine the sound of a chain saw.

Now, imagine that sound reverberating off the walls in your bedroom a bedroom youve paid a few hundred dollars for, while visiting Astoria, maybe for the first time.

Thats what work on the Astoria Bridge could sound like starting next year and not ending until 2016.

The five-year, $50 million project to repaint and rerivet the Astoria Bridge has been compared to other sounds, from a motorcycle to a jet engine. But no matter how loud is too loud, it is about to make its way over to the Oregon side. 

Were just starting the public process with the city, said Larry McKinley, regional manager for the Oregon Department of Transportation. Were looking at four to six years of bridge work to get it up to standards.

McKinley said the sound wont be quite as loud as a jet engine, although that is a common way of describing the project among city leaders. He said it will be around 100 decibels, the sound of a motorcycle, a power motor or a snowmobile. A jet engine is estimated at 140 decibels. The threshold of pain to the ear, according to several online sources, is estimated at 130 decibels.

Hurtful sounds or not McKinley also said ODOT is looking at ways to muffle the sound. One thing is certain: Local businesses will not be happy when the project begins.

Being under the Astoria Bridge may have been a star attraction for the thousands of overnight visitors coming to Astoria every year. But in the next few years, it will be a star annoyance, as ODOT decides how best to use a media blaster on the bridge, over places like the Cannery Pier Hotel, the Holiday Inn Express and the neighboring hillside residents.

When that noise is reverberating off that hillside, its going to be a real issue, Astoria City Manager Paul Benoit said. I dont know if theres technology out there that can reduce it, but five years of jet engines …

Were way early in this process, McKinley added, and were working on how to mitigate that. Its not going to run constantly, but when theyre sandblasting, theyve got to power that on there, and its something we cant walk away from. But how we do it, when we do it, what we do it with, theres still a lot of discussion on that yet. But were starting an early process to try to work with the city and then with the businesses down there, too, to mitigate the impacts.

Astoria Mayor Willis Van Dusen said he feels for the businesses that will have to cope with that.

First of all, the bridge work must be done. The bridge is the most valuable public asset in Clatsop County, Van Dusen said. That bridge would cost over a billion with a b dollars to replace. So it is all of our responsibility to keep up the maintenance on the bridge. The noise and the length of time is concerning but it is important that we all work together.

Van Dusen said McKinley is different than many state agency representatives, praising him for his hard work and for being a good representative of Astoria. McKinley lives in Astoria, Van Dusen said. 

He understands the problem and the issue. His family is here. Larry is local, he said. Its going to be very noisy and the paint is going to be an issue to keep it all contained. Thats going to be a big job. But my biggest concern is for both of the motels under the bridge, for the tourists, and then for the citizens who live right off that bridge. 

Don West, manager of the Cannery Pier Hotel, said the upcoming move will undoubtably be a nightmare. 

He just hopes the work will be done in the daytime not while guests are sleeping.

If its during the day, the affect will not be as bad. But if its at night, youll see me up there, youll see me going absolutely nuts, West said. If theres people trying to sleep with that kind of noise, its not going to be good.

Replacing 10,000 rivets and protecting the bridge is important and necessary, West said. He just wishes it didnt have to happen.

West said he has been told by ODOT that work would only be done at night if the traffic became too big of an issue.

On the other side of the bridge they never had to work at night and I hope its the same thing over here. I mean, it is the same bridge, he said. 

Bob Jacob, owner of the Cannery Pier, said he cannot imagine what the bridge work is going to do to his business, especially if the sounds are at night or during the summer.

He said its unfortunate that ODOT doesnt answer to anyone, even when they work in the summer because it is warmer. He referenced the U.S. Highway 30 waterline replacement project that was conducted during the night in August during the Astoria Regatta weekend.

The noise problem can be mitigated. I dont know what incentive ODOT has to mitigate it, after seeing some of the past highway jobs. Jacob said. A lot of the businesses were appalled that they chose the Regatta celebration for work on the only road that goes East and West.

Acoustic measures can be taken, similar to the methods used in hotels to mitigate noise, although they are more costly and would take longer to do. 

It would be worth it, Jacob said, but its money, its time, and ODOT is not in the tourism industry.

He said he hopes ODOT considers working in small increments. If the project is going to take four years, why not make it eight, he asked. The bridge isnt falling down. Its not failing, he said.

Holiday Inn Express representatives could not be reached for comment.

 

No big impact

Rae Goforth, a Uniontown resident, does not believe there will be a big impact on the west end of town.

Weve been through bridge painting a couple of times over the years and I dont think it will affect us in anyway, she said. They use screens and materials and plastics under the bridge to catch debris because there are a lot of businesses around there. But I dont think its going to bother us too much. At least, I hope not. I dont anticipate any problems.

The bridge was originally built for $24 million, beginning in 1962 and opened in 1966. It was paid for with tolls that were removed on Christmas Eve 1993. The bridge was last painted in the 1980s.

This isnt the first time that Astoria has been shocked by an ODOT project. Just last month, McKinley came before the Astoria City Council, apologizing for a mistake ODOT had made by not notifying the city last year of a project on U.S. Highway 30.

Highway 30 on the East end of town is being realigned, Benoit told the governors transportation adviser during her visit last week. Theres a deep culvert being replaced. We knew the project was being planned. We had no idea that it was actually being engineered. We found out when they were at the 90-percent completion stage. Thats when we were told that would have to move our waterline which were still paying the bill on.

The relocation of that waterline is expected to cost $300,000.

We feel strongly that had we been involved in the planning of this and the early design, that there may have been opportunities to affect the design to minimize impact on the utilities. And now the engineering is largely done, its a real problem for us and ODOT recognizes it.

There may be some solutions out there. But bringing partners in at the ground floor is kind of the point here.