Brutscher Street Paving Project Update

Update: Friday, June 23 at 3:20 p.m.

Sarah Wilson, PE, the Assistant City Engineer, confirmed that Brutscher Street will reopen by Wednesday, June 28.

“Permanent Stripping was intended to happen late last week but was delayed due to the wet weather over the weekend,” Wilson wrote in an email. “In the height of the construction season contractors have full schedules and it can be difficult for contractors and subcontractors to shuffle around the order of their lined-up projects due to weather delays.”

The contractor will strip the continental crosswalks, center lines, and fog lines on Monday and Tuesday. Then, the road should be reopened by Wednesday barring any other setbacks.

In the meantime, cars should still take a left at North Providence Drive and wrap around the backside of Fred Meyer to Springbrook to access the shopping center.

Brutscher Street between Highway 99W and Hayes Street has been closed to traffic since the start of the month and will be closed through the weekend.

Repaving Brutshcer Street is part of the citywide Pavement Maintenance Project, which aims to improve high-traffic streets around Newberg. Paving Brutscher Street will start Friday, June 9 and the final lift (a “lift” refers to a layer of pavement as placed by the asphalt paver according to Pavement Interactive) of pavement is scheduled for Monday, June 12, 2023.

Brutscher Street will remain closed to traffic until paving is complete with temporary pavement marking, according to the project webpage. The contractor (Eagle-Elsner, Inc) will install permanent pavement marking several days later.

While Brutsher Street was not noticeably damaged, Newberg Senior Engineer Paul Chiu said that the street was starting to show signs of wear and tear that could be easily addressed now before it becomes a larger problem later.

“The pavement condition index, or PCI, for N Brutscher Street was in the low 40s on a scale of 1 to 100,” he said. “Brutscher Street is classified and functions as a major collector. The city’s consultant investigated Brutscher Street and confirmed the need to reconstruct it. It has serious pavement failure and severe alligator cracks on a closer look.”

Brutscher Street Detour to Fred Meyer

If you’re coming into town from the North and would take a left on Brutscher Street to access Fred Meyer or the other businesses in that complex, the city recommends taking a left at N Providence Drive (the hospital) before you reach Brutscher and wrapping around the back of the hospital and Fred Meyer.

If you miss those turns, you can take a left at Springbrook and take a left at Hayes Street. The city does not recommend pulling a U-turn maneuver on Springbrook as it’s incredibly dangerous and illegal to take a left when there is a double yellow line.

The Pavement Maintenance Project is Shifting

Brutscher Street is one of the active projects currently underway, as is E Sherman St. Shiu said there is a master list of roads to be improved, but the priority is ever-changing based on several factors including conditions of the roads, functional classification of the street, annual budget, and estimated cost for pavement preservation.

“For example, it is unwise to repair the pavement if the pipes require repair or replacement in the very near future,” he said. “We need to leverage the utility budget and the pavement budget to get more bang for your buck. The process is science-based upon engineering evaluation: To maintain good pavement from deterioration, and to reconstruct/reduce poor pavement.”

For more information and updates on ongoing projects, visit the City of Newberg project page: https://www.newbergoregon.gov/engineering/project/current-pavement-rehabilitation-maintenance-projects