A $5.7 million project that shuttered a portion of Northwest Cornelius Pass Road for months won’t be finished this year, and Multnomah County officials said they were “profoundly disappointed” by that development.

Crews closed a five-mile stretch of the windy two-lane road, which is used by thousands of commuters, residents and truckers every day, on July 22. The project was expected to wrap up by late September, but the county said earlier this week that work would actually continue into October.

On Friday, the county said it would reopen the five-mile stretch of road on Oct. 18, but that several unfinished aspects of the work would remain incomplete. That work includes realigning and repaving the road at a key “S” curve that was the most significant piece of the project.

“We are profoundly disappointed that we were not able to complete construction during this year’s road closure,” Ian Cannon, Multnomah County’s Transportation Division director, said in a statement. “We know that this road closure has been very disruptive to thousands of commuters, residents and businesses. We thank everyone for their patience during construction. When completed, this project will make Cornelius Pass Road safer for all road users. We are committed to improving safety on the road and completing this project in 2020.”

Work must stop because the contractor can’t do any construction work in the creek adjacent to the road, due to migratory fish regulations, county officials said. Also, crews ran out of time to do paving work in permitted time before the fall and winter seasons prohibit such work.

Mike Pullen, a county spokesman, said the section of Cornelius Pass Road between U.S. 30 and Skyline Boulevard will likely be closed are at least one-month next summer. The county stretch of the road south of Skyline Boulevard wouldn’t need to be closed in 2020.

The unfinished work is just the latest in the twist and turns on a project that has been in the works for more than a decade, spurred by the 2007 death of a Scappoose teen.

It’s also a project already diminished in scope and cost from previous efforts. In 2012, state lawmakers approved $9.5 million for safety improvements on the road, but they abruptly reduced that figure to $1 million the following year, opting to divert some money to east Portland safety projects.

By 2015, the county had recaptured some of its initial funding, to the current $5.7 million. But a 2017 landslide on Newberry further delayed the project by more than a year as a key detour route had been wiped away.

Now, it appears work will continue into 2020.

The contractor, Wildish Standard Paving, has thus far built four vehicle pullouts, widened the shoulder at the Northwest Kaiser Road intersection, and removed vegetation.

In the next three weeks, the contractor plans to install guardrails on some sections of the road, realign and pave the curve at Northwest Eighth Avenue, install protective rock netting at a curvy section north of Skyline and put in permanent traffic safety signs.

In 2020, crews will still need to repave the road at Northwest Eighth Avenue intersection, replace a culvert in the creek at that section of the road and realign and pave the “S” curves.

County officials said they would hire a construction consultant to review this year’s construction issues” and offer “problem-solving” on how to wrap up the project in 2020.

On Oct. 18, Oregon Department of Transportation work crews will shut the ramp from U.S. 30 to Interstate 405 southbound for 11 days. That project was initially scheduled to occur this summer but was delayed.

-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen

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