India  

Highway 138 East reopens amid Archie Creek Fire

Video Credit: KEZI - Published
Highway 138 East reopens amid Archie Creek FireHighway 138 East reopens amid Archie Creek Fire

(541) 440-4338.

In douglas county& highway 138 is open for the first time since the archie creek fire started.

Kezi 9 news reporter evita garza gives a look at some of the damages drivers are seeing& and their reactions.

Trt: 1:31 00:00 take lower the road to recovery has just begun for the archie creek fire& and oregon department of transporation officials tell me it started with reopening highway 138 east.

00:09 dan latham, public information officer, odot:?wee trying to make it easier as best we can.

Let people in, fix the roads so they can get through there?

People can now drive from glide to diamond lake& which was impossible for the last two weeks.

But public information officer dan latham says drivers should expect 45 minute delays between milepost 23 and 83.

He says theyl be clearing at least 10 thousand hazardous trees, cleaning up ash and assessing what left of the forest.?some people may be driving by and see us cutting down a tree that looks green and healthy.

A lot of times those trees are burnt of the backside?

Latham says they also lost 100 road signs, nearly five miles of guardrail and damaged more than 100 hillsides and slopes.

00:51 evita:?many drivers told me this this was their first look at the damage caused by the archie creek fire.

They said they were in shock because the forest is unrecognizable.

Larry farmer tells me making the drive down the river was one of the hardest things he had to do.

1:05 larry farmer, driver:?ie only been up as far as swiftwater, but whate seen is just heartbreaking?

Latham says they expect to be working on the highway for the next few weeks.

And, he is asking drivers to be patient.

Just stay in your vehicle.

Don pull over.

There a lot of work going on out there and we want people to be safe?

He says it will give crews more room to do their jobs& and keep drivers safe.

In




You Might Like