Tag: Territorial Highway Project

Sweet Lorane Community News, September 16, 2021

September 16, 2021Newspaper Columns, Leave a comment

Fern Ridge-Tribune News
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
September 16, 2021
By Pat Edwards

Big preparations are underway for the wedding on Saturday of our grandson, Kevin Stevens and his fiance, Jazmine Bangs, this week. My contribution will be the making of enough of my signature potato salad to feed everyone. Despite the fact that it’s an outdoor wedding and much-needed rain is predicted for Saturday, we’re going full-steam ahead with the preparations. Both Kev and Jazmine are being wonderful sports about their predicted damp event, but I keep reminding them that we’ll all be making memories on their special day.

I want to update all who either travel to, or through, Lorane of the progress that has been made on the Stony Point construction project on Territorial Highway this week. The laying of blacktop has almost been completed and as soon as guard rails are installed, we should be able to travel on the new surface without traffic lights or flaggers.

Becky Taylor, the Senior Transportation Planner for the Lane County Public Works Department sent out this short update last week:

“Paving is occurring on the new road alignment at Stony Point. This is a huge milestone for the project and signals that we are nearing the end of construction. We anticipate that construction will be completed in November.

“There is one remaining section of single-lane-gravel-travel on the north end of the project area where the temporary traffic signals will continue to be used. The traffic signal phases will be significantly be shorter and it will take less time to travel through the construction area.
“Your patience and cooperation is greatly appreciated! We continue to share our project updates through our project newsletter. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.”

Anyone who has had to travel that section of road in the past year, will know what a relief it is to finally be able to reach this point. It’s been a long-haul, but I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been working long hours to get this competed before the end of the year.

Thank you, Becky, Sasha, and the whole construction crew. Your work is much appreciated.

Sweet Lorane Community News; August 26, 2021

August 26, 2021Newspaper Columns, , Leave a comment

Fern Ridge-Tribune News
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
August 26, 2021
By Pat Edwards

The recent cool mornings and milder days these past couple of weeks are a welcome change. I haven’t had to worry about having to go out, either in the early mornings or late evenings, to water plants because of the heat. Some of my plants have gotten a bit sunburned because I was forced to water them mid-day a couple times. It was either that or not water them at all when they needed it.

Thanks to our neighbors who have been following the restrictions and taking care during this extreme fire season, we have not had any major fire scares closeby. There were a few small fires that were quickly put out and I think we all owe our local fire fighters a big ‘thank you’ for being so well-prepared. Of course, it’s not over yet, but it almost feels as though an early fall is beginning to settle in on us. Goodness knows, we could use some good rain showers. It seems that the East Coast has a monopoly on the rain right now, though.

The road construction on Territorial Highway at Stoney Point is progressing nicely. We can now see the route that the new road will take us as we slowly work our way through the flaggers and gravel detours that keep changing on us each day or week. There are still some long delays at times to allow drainage work to be done in areas next to the road and most of us who travel Territorial often know that we need to tack on an additional 10 to 20 minutes to our travel time if we need to be somewhere at a certain time.

The other day, I had an appointment in Cottage Grove, but was late in leaving the house. Normally, the 30 minutes I allow myself for travel time would have been enough, but as I approached the construction zone, I decided to head over the hill to Creswell instead of chancing being held up too long at Stoney Point. Even at that, I was 10 minutes late to my appointment and had to call ahead to let them know I was on my way. The lab tech was not too happy, but I was eventually forgiven. Today, I had a 7:00 a.m. appointment in Cottage Grove and allowed myself 45 minutes. This time I decided to go through the construction zone and take Cottage Grove-Lorane Road since traffic was not too heavy going south and it was being controlled by traffic lights at Stoney Point. I got to my appointment with time to spare.

We all need to plan ahead and adjust our lives to the constrictions we feel each day from construction zones, speed limits, mask mandates, and unforeseen circumstances that might interfere with or interrupt our plans. We’re all in this—whatever “this” is—together. Getting angry, frustrated, belligerent or placing the blame on others is only going to complicate our lives. If we are always looking for the thorns, we will miss the beauty of the roses.

Looking back at my years on earth… and that’s almost 79 of them… I’ve experienced many more roses than thorns. Even the thorns are important, because they make me realize how beautiful the roses were (and are), and how blessed I have been.

Let’s strive to be kind to each other.

Sweet Lorane Community News – July 2, 2021

July 2, 2021Uncategorized, , , , Leave a comment

Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
July 2, 2021
By Pat Edwards

I hope everyone was able to enjoy the 4th of July this past weekend. More importantly, I hope that each of us, regardless of which way we lean on the political spectrum, took the time to really appreciate how blessed we are to live in this wonderful country as we celebrated its birthday. Patriotism isn’t just flag waving; it’s showing respect for not only our flag, but for all of those Americans it represents. The democracy that has made it great must be cherished and protected as must the rights that our U.S. Constitution provides each and every one of us. May God Bless America!

Now that the COVID restrictions have been lifted in our state, we can now begin to resume more “normal” lifestyles, but it’s obvious that it’s going to take a bit of time. Jim and I went to the Olive Garden the other day for lunch after the restrictions were lifted. There was a half-hour wait and when we were called in to be seated, the waiter apologized for the delay. The seating still appeared to be at 50% occupancy and the waitress was obviously busy. She apologized each time she passed our table, saying that she’d be with us as soon as possible. When she arrived at our table to take our orders, she explained that they are not able to open to full occupancy because they are short on employees. It seems that few people are applying to work these days.

After lunch, we went to the Verizon store on Coburg Road to figure out why our internet at the store has not been working well. After we checked in, we were told that our wait would be about 45 minutes before we could be waited on… they were short-handed and were having trouble meeting the needs of their customers in a timely manner. We see so many “help wanted” signs around town… not just in fast-food places, either. It’s time to get our economy moving by filling vacant jobs. There are a lot of good ones out there.

Lorane has some upcoming events scheduled and I’m sure there will be others announced soon.

The Lorane Grange is bringing back its monthly family Dinner and Bingo Night, but instead of dinner this time, it will be dessert only. It will be taking place on Friday, July 16, at 7:00 p.m. All ages are welcome. It’s always been a fun evening to visit with neighbors, laugh and enjoy being a bit social again. Please mark it on your calendars and join us. Proceeds go to grange projects throughout the year.

The Lorane Community Association and Lorane Grange are planning a community-wide yard/garage sale on Saturday, August 14. You can opt to have your sale at your home in Lorane or rent a table from the grange. Maps to all of the participating sales will be provided at each stop. To sign up, contact Louise McClure or a member of either organization.
A lot of progress is being made on the Territorial Highway project at Stony Point, north of Lorane. Currently, much of the pavement has been removed through the curves and the reroute of where the new road will go is evident. Vehicles must pass through on one-way gravel areas and its imperative that everyone wait until a green light is given them before proceeding. A few incidents of impatient drivers moving forward on red have caused near-collisions on the narrow routes. There is no room to pass when you meet on-coming traffic. Let’s stay safe by adding a few more minutes to our travel time to compensate for the delays. We are all anxious for this major construction project to be completed. Thanks to all of those who are working so hard to make it happen.