The Forest Service values public participation. Communications from the public regarding this project, including commenters' names and contact information, will become part of the public record. Comments, including anonymous comments, will be accepted at any time. However, comments posted after the close of a designated comment period may not be able to be given full consideration. Anonymous comments and comments submitted after the close of the final designated comment period will not provide the commenter standing for administrative review. Comments, or in some cases other expressions of interest, along with respondent's contact information, submitted during the comment period may be necessary to establish a respondent's eligibility to participate in an administrative review for this proposed action. Interested members of the public should review the proposal's information to determine the applicable administrative review process and the eligibility requirements for that process.
The Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest (RRSNF) has experienced damage to its existing roads, across the Gold Beach, Powers, Wild Rivers, Siskiyou Mountains, and High Cascades Ranger Districts due to rain on snow events prior to 2023. The Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest is proposing to partner with United States Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration to repair the 9 damaged sites. The Emergency Relief of Federally Owned Roads (ERFO) program will be used to fund these damaged roads and restore them to their original condition. All roads can expect up to 30 minute traffic delays when the roadwork occurs.
The repair work proposed, ranges from surface road repair and replacement of culverts to re-alignment of roads on the RRSNF. Please see attached table for roads and scope of work (Table 1). Currently the RRSNF plans on utilizing Categorical Exclusion 36 CFR 2206. (e) (24) -Construction and realignment of up to two miles of NFS roads and associated parking areas.
Table 1: Description of road damage and scope of work to fix the damage.
|
District |
Road Name |
Description of Damage |
Scope of Work |
Equipment type |
|
Gold Beach |
2308-300 |
The culvert was damaged and plugged during a large rain event. This caused the entire road section and embankment to wash out. |
Work will include installing a new culvert with fill material at the inlet and outlet. The roadway prism will need to be rebuilt and new asphalt will need to be placed. |
The equipment needed to complete the work is two excavators, a grader, roller, dump truck, and water truck |
|
Gold Beach |
Winchuck Road FSR 1107 |
Heavy rains caused saturated soil conditions, resulting in cut slope failure causing failure to culvert and down-pipe. |
Fallen material will need to be removed and the damaged culvert will need to be replaced. The replacement will include a culvert with a high riser and down-pipe. Debris will need to be cleared from the inlet. |
Equipment to be used will be an Excavator, a grader, a roller, a dump truck, and a water truck. |
|
Powers |
Agness Road FSR 3300 |
Heavy rain on snow caused a 48-inch culvert to separate, causing a large sink hole approximately 10 feet. |
The culvert will be repaired with a culvert liner. Repair the whole in the road by replacing lost road fill. |
A Concrete pump truck, an excavator and a paver will be used to complete the work. |
|
Powers |
FSR 3558 |
Warm heavy rain on snow caused heavy flows, resulting in about 70 linear feet of embankment failure across most of the road cross section. |
A culvert will be installed. Borrow material will be brought in to rebuild the fillslope. |
An excavator, grader, loader, roller, dump truck will be used to complete the work. |
|
District |
Road Name |
Description of Damage |
Scope of Work |
Equipment type |
|
Wild Rivers |
FSR 2402 |
The fill shoulder of the aggregate single land road has failed for 60-feet and was deposited straight downhill near Sailor Jack Creek. In addition, the fill slope edge has dropped vertically, an estimated 1-3 feet for 50 feet prior to the failure. There is also a 15-foot-wide fill slope failure in the 50- foot segment just prior to the failure that does not impact the road surface. |
To restore the road, the road will need to re-align road into the hill slope and build a concrete precast eco block wall with a French drain. The existing cut-bank will need to be cleaned up by removing slough and ravel from the roadway and placing concrete blocks. |
An Excavator, grader, roller, dump truck and water truck will be used to complete the work. |
|
Wild Rivers |
FSR 2402 |
The steep fill slope has either eroded away or dropped a few feet for about 175-feet along the road, leaving a near vertical scarp right at the edge of the travel way. With time, this near vertical edge will degrade and the travel way will not be sufficiently wide enough to allow vehicle passage. |
To restore the road, the road will need to be re-aligned towards the hillside to ensure travel way width meets the minimal travel way of 12-feet. |
The equipment needed to complete the work is an excavator, grader, roller, dump truck, and water truck. |
|
Wild Rivers |
Illinois River Road FSR 4103 |
Warm heavy rains on snow causing heavy flows and saturated soil conditions caused slumping and separation of the culvert and 200 cubic yards of embankment failure. |
The culvert will need to be repaired by replacing a 10-foot portion of the culvert with 18-inch diameter pipe. If the remaining 20-foot section of pipe is not useable, then the entire 30-feet of pipe will be replaced with a downspout. Road will need to be realigned upslope avoid an unstable area below the road. |
The equipment needed to complete the work is an excavator, grader, roller, dump truck, and water truck. |
|
Siskiyou Mountains |
FSR 2040 |
A portion of the shoulder has had a fill failure and is now gone. The risk is that more of the road prism being lost. This was caused by a rain on snow event. |
The road needs to be re-aligned into the hillside and the ditch line need to be re-established to the nearest drainage. |
The equipment needed to complete the work is an excavator, grader, roller, dump truck, and water truck. |
|
District |
Road Name |
Description of Damage |
Scope of Work |
Equipment type |
|
High Cascades |
FSR 6510-700 |
Culvert band has separated, and the culvert inlet is plugged, which is forcing water to run across the road, causing a large fill failure. The roadway prism has lost a substantial amount of surface, approximately eight feet of the road is missing. |
The road needs to be re-aligned into the knob ridge to increase road width. Additionally, the culvert will need to be repaired to allow the road to shift. |
The equipment needed to complete the work is an excavator, grader, roller, dump truck, and water truck. |
The Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest is accepting public comments during the project’s scoping period. Your written comments help the Forest Service to identify environmental issues.
Amanda Merz
