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Newport City Council gets update on South Beach Tsunami evacuation plan.

Earthquake, Newport, South Beach, Tsunami, Tsunami Preparedness No Responses »

Aug 152011

“Safe Haven Hill,” South Beach

If “The Big One” shakes the Oregon Coast and generates a 100′ tsunami, those who live and work at South Beach are expected to head up the hill that sits near the south end of the Yaquina Bay Bridge. It’s been tentatively named “Safe Haven Hill.” There are plans to cut the trees and clear the land on the top to make room for the crowds of people who manage to get atop it before the Tsunami arrives. Those who are planning to clear the top promise that they’ll leave a thick ring of outside edge trees so it won’t look like something just ripped off the top of the hill.

City Councilor Dick Beemer, who has been spearheading the project, says no work will be done on hill until a geologic engineering study is completed to ascertain whether it can withstand a tsunami surge or is high enough or wide enough to be a predictably safe haven for those fleeing their homes, businesses and workplaces. It’s estimated that there will be barely 15 minutes between the earthquake and the arrival of the tsunami so survivors of the quake will have to be running fast and furiously to and up the hill in order to beat the tsunami.

The council learned that the Hatfield Marine Science Center has a tsunami drill set for October 5th that is said to involve Safe Haven Hill. A resident of the neighborhood, just to the west of the hill, asked the council to not forget them. She complained she’s heard about the effort to evacuate NOAA, HMSC, Rogue Ale and businesses but nothing about evacuating her and her neighbors to the west. She said they have no clear pathway to the hill, especially if they have to run or climb uphill in the dark. The council told her that they have not forgotten her neighbhorhood and that the plan being put together definitely includes them.

Councilor Beemer said there will be a lot more to report on the project very shortly.

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Pick up in South Beach driveway burns after resident hears “a pop!”

Fires, South Beach No Responses »

Jul 312011

A Ford pick-up in the driveway at 226 SW 29th in South Beach gave off a loud “pop” sound Sunday afternoon which prompted the resident to come outside to discover the vehicle in flames. Neighbors used fire extinguishers and another manned a hose trying to put the fire out and to prevent it from catching an adjacent building on fire.

But the fire burned too quickly and too hot to prevent it from destroying the vehicle. Firefighters say the damage was so absolute, trying to trace the fire back to a source spot was impossible.

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Public invited to open house to talk about traffic issues facing South Beach over next 20 years.

Newport, ODOT, South Beach, Transportation 2 Responses »

Jul 212011

Over the next twenty years, traffic coming and going over the Yaquina Bay Bridge will get to be a lot more than the bridge can handle. Grid lock is not out of the question. And ODOT is quite aware of it. That’s why ODOT is holding a public open house on Wednesday, July 27th to talk about what to do about future congestion in the South Beach area.

It’ll be an informal ‘drop in’ sort of thing from 5 to 7:30pm at Newport City Hall at Angle and 101. Park in the back.

The open house will present staff recommendations about road system improvements, alternate standards and possible techniques that would better manage forecasted higher traffic volumes on Highway 101 and on South Beach streets. A lot of information on all this is available already on ODOT’s website: Click here.

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South Beach tsunami refuges selected

Earthquake, South Beach, Tsunami No Responses »

Jun 062011

Tsunami refuges – South Beach

If an earthquake were to suddenly strike the central Oregon coast, low lying South Beach, south of the Yaquina Bridge, could be a sitting duck for a tsunami. Most of South Beach is only a few feet above sea level.

However, Newport Community Development Director Derrick Tokos and City Councilor Dick Beemer have been working with employers in South Beach to plan evacuation routes to higher ground. Councilor Beemer outlined that employees from Rogue Ale, NOAA, Hatfield Marine Science Center, and other more northerly employers would head for the big hill just south of the bridge. In preparation for such an event, Beemer said a giant clear zone would have to be clear cut atop the hill, grading it flat while leaving trees around the edges to preserve some of its former appearance. The rest of the population would have to find their way up to SE 40th near the college.

Exact routes have not been officially designated. That’s what they’re planning to evaluate next.

They’re also planning to evaluate the Bayfront and of course Yaquina Bay Road, but for those residents and businesses it would be a short jaunt up a hill in very little time. They should be out and up a hill very quickly. Most of Newport is well above 50-feet elevation, normally high enough to be out of reach of a tsunami. However, low lying areas to the north and south of town could be inundated.

Mr. Tokos indicated that funding for planning and establishing escape routes to higher ground are likely to come from federal grants.

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Trying to prevent traffic in South Beach from coming to a dead stop.

Newport, South Beach, Transportation No Responses »

Mar 012011

Newport Planning Commission, Monday night

Because Newport won’t be getting a new cross-bay bridge, or any addition to the one it has anytime soon, due to extreme costs, ODOT officials Monday night laid out a plan to accommodate growth on both sides of the bridge using “Alternative Mobility Standards,” as they were called.

Officials told the Newport Planning Commission that ODOT traffic projections going out twenty years don’t really work as they normally would because the weakest link in the transportation chain is the Yaquina Bay Bridge. It has just two lanes and therefore cannot handle the traffic volumes projected out twenty years without restrictions on South Beach growth patterns.

ODOT officials said growth restrictions, combined with south-of-the-bridge traffic light and intersection improvements and additions, would allow South Beach to continue to grow, but only “within reason.” But even then, there will be elevated congestion at certain times of the day and certainly during certain seasons of the year. But they assured planning commissioners the congestion would be tolerable.

ODOT contract Project Manager Timothy Burkhardt of CH2M Hill said the key is to limit the kinds of growth that generates a lot of traffic. ODOT’s twenty year scenario would restrict traffic-generating new development in the South Beach area to:

* 257 single family homes
* 381 condos/townhouses
* 215 more hotel rooms
* 535K sq-ft of new retail
* 200K sq-ft of new industrial
* 250K sq-ft of new research and development facilities
* 42 new general office employees
* 1,000 new college students (OCCC)
* 58 camp sites
* 78 acres of new county parks

Under a second scenario, there would be slightly lesser amounts of retail, industrial and research and development facilities.

In exchange for this limited growth scenario, ODOT proposes to:

* Leave Yaquina Bay Bridge to two lanes.
* Transform Highway 101 into a four lane highway from Abalone and Pacific Streets south to 62nd. From the bridge south to 42nd, they would put in curb, gutters and sidewalks.
* Limit Pacific Street at 101 to northbound right turns to leave the highway.
* Close the intersection of 32nd and Ferry Slip.
* Move the 32nd Street signal light to 35th.
* Add a signal light at 101 and 40th.
* Realign 101 at 50th, and add a signal light.
* Improve and widen the intersection at 101 and 62nd.
* Construct a north-south internal street between 50th and 62nd on the east side of 101.

With the development constraints mentioned above and the highway and signal light upgrades, Burkhardt claims Highway 101 should move traffic pretty well going out 20 years. But Burkhardt cautions there will be times of the year when severe congestion will be the rule. Again, that is assuming no new bridge is built upstream nor any addition to the current bridge.

Burkhardt said there will be many public meetings to discuss these “Alternate Mobility Standards” for South Beach. He says there will be plenty of opportunity for Newport citizens and their city council to weigh in on the discussions and to have a great deal of influence in the final ODOT plan which is expected to be finalized in April of 2012.

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