Brush Creek, located near where the Oregon Trail ran more than 150 years ago in Ladd Canyon, is getting a new 4,500-foot channel, one stronger than the oxen pioneers used to pull their wagons over this area’s rugged terrain.

The channel is being installed as part of the Oregon Department of Transportation’s $30 million Ladd Canyon Freight Improvement Project, which began in April. The new channel is needed to make way for the addition of a third eastbound lane on I-84 in 2020, which will run from the west entrance of Ladd Canyon east for 1.5 miles.

Brush Creek is posing an obstacle for ODOT because a portion of it runs along the area where the new lane will be built. ODOT is thus taking steps to move the lower part of Brush Creek’s channel to the north side of I-84’s eastbound lanes.

Almost all of the new channel, now partially complete, will have a concrete streambed and concrete banks and weirs. The concrete structures, except for the weirs, will not be visible because it will be covered with fill dirt and gravel, said ODOT spokesman Tom Strandberg.

The channel’s weirs are meant to make it easier for fish to swim up Brush Creek.

“It will look similar to a fish ladder,” Strandberg said.

He said the fish ladder is needed because otherwise fish might face a current that would be too hard to swim uphill against.

The new channel’s weirs will be designed so that fish can easily jump over them and spaced so that they will create small pools the fish can rest in before their next leap.

The new channel’s concrete lining will also allow the lower portion of Brush Creek to retain woody debris and other natural fish habitat elements, said Chuck Longfield, a senior inspector for ODOT.

Work on the Brush Creek project is set to be completed this fall. Brush Creek will then be diverted to the new channel, which will run to Exit 270 where it will flow into Ladd Creek, Strandberg said.

The reconfiguration of Brush Creek is part of phase I of the Ladd Canyon Freight Improvement Project. Another major portion of the phase involves removing an eastbound lane bridge near the entrance into Ladd Canyon and replacing it with a concrete box culvert. The box will be large enough to accommodate log trucks and semi trucks.

The bridge has already been removed and about half the box culvert has been completed, Strandberg said.

Removing the old bridge out will improve safety for motorists because it tended to get icy.

“It will reduce the chronic freezing problem,” Strandberg said.

He explained that bridges usually freeze first in cold conditions because they are sandwiched between cold air. The adjacent roadway by contrast freezes later since only its top surface is exposed to frigid air and its bottom is insulated by soil. The new culvert will not get as icy as quickly because it will have ground insulation.

Phase I work that has already been completed includes repaving Exit 265 near the west entrance into Ladd Canyon and expanding the shoulders of the eastbound and westbound lanes of the 10-mile stretch of I-84 between La Grande and Ladd Canyon.

Expanding the shoulders is providing more space for drivers to pull over during emergencies, making it less likely they will accidentally drive off the freeway and lose control, Strandberg said. Now, when ODOT has to close an eastbound or westbound slow lane between La Grande and Ladd Canyon to do maintenance work, traffic can be diverted to the fast lane because of the extra freeway space.

All phase I work on the Ladd Canyon Freight Improvement Project will be completed by the end of October. Phase II work, which will conclude the construction of the third eastbound lane, will start in April of 2020.

Strandberg said the expanded space the new lane will provide should reduce the number of times Ladd Canyon has to be closed due to trucks blocking lanes. He explained that if a truck crashes in the future three-lane roadway, traffic will be able to move around it while it is being cleared. Truck drivers will be allowed to use only the inner and middle lanes while automobile drivers will be permitted to drive in all three, Standberg said. The three-lane stretch will be similar to a westbound one near Spring Creek on I-84, which has been in place since 2015.

Longfield said being a part of the Ladd Canyon Freight Improvement Project is proving to be fulfilling and enjoyable.

“It has been a fun project,” he said. “We are involved in a lot of stuff we don’t see at other projects.”