World Photo by Alex Powers Oregon Department of Transportation plans, seen here Monday, illustrate the U.S. Highway 101 Coos Bay repaving project under way this summer.

COOS BAY — Nighttime visitors to Coos Bay’s downtown may have noticed some rather noisy activity along the U.S. Highway 101 corridor recently. Others may have seen the evidence in daylight: Pavement has been cut and lines are drawn to indicate where underground utilities are located.

Crews have been preparing the roadway for a big summer paving project, as well as the replacement of sidewalks north of Market Avenue.

Once the work is complete, drivers will be able to travel from Bunker Hill Elementary School south of town to the Timber Inn and back again on freshly-paved asphalt.

It is the six to eight weeks in July and August when work is scheduled that motorists may find traveling, and parking, in Coos Bay to be a challenge.

The project runs from Fir Avenue, just north of the shuttered Timber Inn motel, to a few hundred yards south of the Bunker Hill school.

The Oregon Department of Transportation hasn’t scheduled such a project in Coos Bay in quite some time.

Some segments of the road haven’t been paved since 1985, said ODOT spokesman Dan Latham. Other stretches are uneven because new asphalt was poured on old pavement without first leveling the roadway.

“It’s just gotten higher and higher,” Latham said.

To produce a uniform surface, ODOT will grind four to five inches of old asphalt from the 2.3 miles of road before putting down new asphalt.

LTM Inc. of Coos Bay is the prime contractor for the project, which has an overall budget of $2.9 million.

Work began at the end of April, when crews surveyed Broadway north of Market Avenue, where sidewalks will be torn out sometime this month. Temporary walkways may be put in place, Latham said, though the sidewalks could be closed.

Paving is expected to begin in July, though a start date has yet to be set. Katherine Hoppe, director of promotion & conventions at the Coos Bay-North Bend Visitors & Convention Bureau, said she has asked ODOT to work around events that bring large groups to the area, including the Fourth of July and Sand Fest, scheduled for the second week in July.

Almost all the work will be done between the hours of 9 p.m. and 6 a.m., from Sunday nights to Friday mornings. One lane of traffic will be open in both directions at all times, said Latham.

ODOT plans to begin the paving project in the southbound lanes at the intersection of Johnson Avenue, then work south. Once crews complete the southern end of the project, they will resurface the northbound lanes up to Fir Avenue, before making their way back down to Johnson Avenue.

“Now, that’s not set in stone, but that’s the most likely way they will do it,” Latham said.

As part of the project, crews also will replace the traffic signal at the intersection of southbound Highway 101 and Johnson.

Before paving begins, crews will remove manhole covers and rims from the center of the roadway on Broadway north of Market this week, Latham said, and replace them with steel plates and temporary asphalt.  Doing so beforehand will expedite the paving process. They’ll replace the covers and rims later.

Latham noted that traffic should continue to move through the area with only short, intermittent delays while work is being done at night. There also will be an impact on parking once the paving begins.

In the areas where work is scheduled, cars will have to be off the streets at least half an hour before 9 p.m., Latham said.

Parking enforcement ultimately falls to the city of Coos Bay in the areas within its boundaries. City Manager Chuck Freeman said the city hasn’t finalized plans with ODOT, though he would want to work with motorists, instead of punishing them. So if someone parks in downtown and forgets to move his car, officers would be asked to search local businesses to find the owner rather than call a tow truck, Freeman said.

“We need to be sensitive in this regard,” he said.