The Deschutes National Forest plans to reopen the road to Tumalo Falls this weekend. The popular Central Oregon recreation area had been closed as crews prepared to replace one of the pipes that carries drinking water to the city of Bend.
A court injunction has put that construction on hold.
The road closed about a month ago to allow flat-bed trucks to haul in giant sections of that pipe. It took about 80 trips to bring in all the pieces some of which are as long as 60 feet.
Tom Hickman, Bend's Assistant Public Works Director and City Engineer, says workers unloaded each section - lining them up end-to-end at the approximate locations they were to be installed.
"You want to move the pipe as little as possible because every time you're moving that pipe it takes time and energy."
That work now has to wait while a federal judge decides whether city planners properly assessed the project's environmental impacts.
The project is being challenged by Central Oregon Land Watch.
Hickman says it would cost the city $80,000 to remove all that pipe.
