Daily bridge and I-84 lane closures hit La Grande during fairgrounds work
North 2nd Street Bridge closed daily through July 15 as crews lowered pipe for the fairgrounds wastewater hookup, with I-84 lanes also narrowed below.
The North 2nd Street Bridge over Interstate 84 in La Grande was closed each day from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. through July 15 as work continued on the Union County Fairgrounds Wastewater Project. Drivers below the overpass also faced one-lane-at-a-time restrictions on I-84 from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., with westbound slow-lane work on July 9, westbound fast-lane work from July 10 through July 13, and eastbound fast-lane work from July 14 through July 15.
La Grande Public Works was installing the north-side manhole and using a boom truck to lower pipe over the bridge rail. The city’s recommended detour for anyone needing to cross the highway during the closure was Spruce Street across the Grande Ronde River near Riverside Park.
An active commercial-vehicle width restriction on I-84 in La Grande between mileposts 259 and 261 began July 6, with eastbound and westbound traffic limited to 17 feet Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., per Oregon Department of Transportation’s TripCheck.
Anderson Perry & Associates completed pre-design work in 2001, 2007, 2011 and 2021 after the fairgrounds’ original septic system began failing more than 20 years ago and the bathrooms became completely non-operable about a decade ago. Union County secured $2,539,405 in lottery bond funding in 2025 through House Bill 5006 and Senate Bill 5531, and a later estimate put the full project cost at about $4.353 million. Construction began in February 2026 and was expected to run through July 2026, with the Union County Fair Board, Mike Becker Construction and Commissioner Matt Scarfo agreeing on the river-spanning plan that would connect the fairgrounds to La Grande’s water and septic system.
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