Repairs begin next week on the aging bridges that carry Interstate 84 across Hood River, leading to around-the-clock single lane closures in both directions and ramp closures.  The concrete decks are deteriorating on the I-84 structures over Hood River between exits 63 and 64.  The first phase of the project takes place from March through May, with a second phase this fall and a third next winter.  One lane in both directions of Interstate 84 will be closed during each phase of construction, there will be traffic shifts with reduced lane and shoulder widths, and speed limits in the work zone will drop to 50 miles per hour.  Nighttime ramp closures at exits 63 and 64 will take place periodically from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday through Thursday nights, primarily at the beginning and end of each phase.  Cyclists using the shoulder of I-84 will need to use an alternate route during construction, while pedestrians can continue using the overcrossings and trails under I-84 with minor delays.          

Beginning next Monday, the contractor working on the water main improvements on White Salmon’s Jewett Boulevard will be moving to the core downtown area and working between Estes and Main.  The east-bound lane of Jewett will be closed with no parking, and marked detours in place.  The west-bound lane will be open to one lane of travel in that direction with parking available on the north side.  Public parking lots have been marked and are available west of White Salmon City Hall, both the lower and upper parking lots and north of the fire station on Church Street.  Once work is completed between Estes and Main, the contractor will be moving work to the area between Main and Garfield.  For more information on the water main project, check the City of White Salmon webpage or call City Hall at 509-493-1133.

Swimming

Hood River Valley won the boys’ 200 yard freestyle relay by two-one-hundreths of a second over West Albany as the Eagles finished fifth in the Oregon Class 5A championships in Beaverton.  The quartet of Clayton Lee, Connor McElwee, Luke Southall, and David Hecksel recorded a time of 1:29.61.  Hecksel was second in the 100 backstroke and third in the 50 freestyle, and Southall sixth in the 100 freestyle.  HRV was sixth in the girls’ team standings, led by Sarah Arpag finishing second in the 100 butterfly and third in the 100 backstroke.  The Eagle girls earned fourth place finishes in both the 200 and 400 freestyle relays.

 

Wrestling

Hood River Valley will send seven wrestlers and The Dalles five to the Oregon Class 5A wrestling tournament after earning top four finishes at the Intermountain Conference championships.  Dusty Dodge of The Dalles won the league title at 170 pounds.  Hood River’s Carson Farlow, Chad Muenzer, and Cody Durham and The Dalles’ Taylor Moorehouse all had second place finishes.

 

A fifth place finish by Goldendale’s Blake Waddell was the top performance by an area wrestler at the Washington Class 1A Mat Classic in Tacoma.  Columbia’s David Durham, Bowen Durkee, and Payden Webster, and Stevenson’s Logan Hoffberger and Solomon Mahoney all earned top eight finishes.

 

Boys Basketball

Pendleton 79, The Dalles 65

 

Girls Basketball

Pendleton 33, The Dalles 19

Redmond 52, Hood River Valley 38

 

Big Sky Conference Basketball Tournament at Madras

Girls Semi-Finals

Dufur 58, Ione 50

Echo 62, South Wasco 39

 

Girls Finals

Third Place:  South Wasco 54, Ione 50:  South Wasco will visit Country Christian in the first round of the state 1A tournament on Tuesday.

Championship:  Dufur 50, Echo 44:  The Rangers get a bye into round two of the state playoffs on Friday.

 

Boys Semi-Finals

Ione 61, Dufur 42

South Wasco 62, Condon-Wheeler 56

Boys Finals

Third Place:  Dufur 70, Condon-Wheeler 47:  Dufur visits Life Christian to begin the Oregon 1A tourney on Wednesday.

Championship:  Ione 74, South Wasco 68:  The Redsides will host Elgin in round one of the state 1A tournament on Wednesday.

 

 

Nordic Skiing

Hood River Valley’s girls were fifth and boys eighth at the Oregon Interscholastic Ski Racing Association nordic skiing championships at Mt. Bachelor.  Frances Dickinson was 13^th in the girls’ 5.1K freestyle and 17^th in combined.

 

Alpine Skiing

The Columbia girls’ Madison Swanson and Hood River Valley boys’ Aidan Gonzales-Haynie have qualified in both slalom and giant slalom out of the Mt. Hood League for the state skiing championships.  HRV’s Parker Dey and Columbia’s Camden Uffulman also qualified in boys’ slalom and the Eagles’ Hugh Dalbey advances in the boys’ giant slalom.

Columbia Area Transit says funds from the state are allowing a free bus pass program for Hood River County School District middle and high school students that have a valid school ID.  The funds for the passes are as a result of the Keep Oregon Moving Act that passed the Legislature last year.  It included an employee payroll tax dedicated to funding public transportation services expansion, and one percent of all funds allocated to transit agencies is to be spent on addressing the needs of young people.  CAT will be establishing a new transit stop at Wy’east Middle School at 3:35 p.m. for after-school activities in Hood River, and another picking up at 8 a.m. from the Rockford Grange and at 3:30 p.m. from May Street School.  For more information call CAT at 541-389-4202.

Washington 14th District State Senator Curtis King has proposed that the $196 million expected from Boeing in 2020-21 from the aerospace tax incentive reform bill be used to fund fish passage projects around the state.  Along with Senator Marko Liias of Lynwood, King is a co-sponsor of Senate Bill 6690, which would capture the projected $196 million from Boeing during 2020-21.   It is possible that the projected funds could be cut short if the bill’s trigger mechanism is activated through settlement of Boeing’s World Trade Organization dispute over subsidies, which led to the reform bill.  However, it is also possible that more fish passage could be remediated since the $196 million only accounts for expected revenue from the Boeing portion of the aerospace sector.  King is the ranking Republican member of the Senate Transportation Committee.

The Historic Columbia River Highway will be closed next week for rockfall work near the Oneonta Tunnel east of Multnomah Falls.  Starting Sunday crews will begin scaling the hillsides adjacent to the tunnel to bring down loose rocks.  The hillside was burned during the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire, destroying vegetation and increasing the threat of rockfall.  Work is expected to begin at 8 a.m. Sunday with flaggers controlling traffic around the tunnel.  At 4 p.m. Sunday the Historic Columbia River Highway will be closed around-the-clock to all users between Multnomah Falls and Interstate 84 exit 35 at Ainsworth State Park.   The road will reopen by 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28.  The Eagle Creek Fire badly damaged the tunnel, a part of the Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail.  The rockfall work is needed to begin the process of repairing and reopening the tunnel.

 

Friday should be the last day of a full closure of Monroe Street between East 2nd and East 3rd in The Dalles as part of the first stage of a sanitary sewer upgrade.  Early next week the project moves on to move a manhole and connecting to the existing sewer main at the intersection of Monroe and East 3rd, with traffic flagged to a single lane around the construction zone.  The final phase of the project late next week will see the sewer main installation on East 3rd between Madison and Monroe, which will close the south lane of East 3rd for up to six days.  No parking is being allowed within the work area due to heavy equipment use and the location of the trench.  No parking signs are being placed on the curb 48 hours before the project moves into each work area.

Boys Basketball

Redmond 47, Hood River Valley 37:  The Panthers eliminated HRV from state playoff contention.  Redmond’s defense limited the Eagles to 16 points over the first three quarters.  

 

Southwest Washington Class 1A Boys Basketball Tournament

Forks 65, Stevenson 59:  The Bulldogs were eliminated from the district tourney.

The Port of Hood River Commission has decided to proceed with a long-planned project from the Ken Jernstedt Airfield that received a one-point-eight million dollar allocation from the Connect Oregon program three years ago.  The project is centered on the aviation technology and emergency response of the airfield at the North ramp to accommodate emergency helicopters, staging for emergency response, and eventually a shift of the location of the fixed based operator.  Port Commissioners approved awarding the contract to Tapani of Battle Ground for just over $1.88 million after bids came in below engineer’s estimates.  Port Executive Director Michael McElwee noted several of the bids were under the estimate.  McElwee added the Port will negotiate with the company about including installing fuel facilities in the project.

Fishery managers from Oregon and Washington have adopted revised spring Chinook salmon and steelhead seasons for the Columbia River.  In the Columbia upstream of Bonneville Dam, the recreational Chinook season will be open from Wednesday, April 1 through Tuesday, May 5.  The open area for both boat and bank anglers is from the Tower Island power lines approximately six miles below The Dalles Dam upstream to the Oregon/Washington border (upstream of McNary Dam).  From the Tower Island power lines downstream to Bonneville Dam, only bank angling is allowed.  In the Columbia below Bonneville Dam, the modified recreational spring Chinook season will take place from Sunday, March 1 through Tuesday, March 31, then continue three days a week – on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays – from April 2 until the pre-season harvest guideline of 2,899 adult upriver Chinook mortalities is achieved.  The season-setting process was influenced this year by a lower than average forecast for upriver-origin spring Chinook of 81,700 fish and poor expected returns to the Cowlitz and Lewis rivers that are fewer than needed to meet minimum hatchery brood stock needs.