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ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: AUGUST 19, 2000

Evergreen eyes mid-September for Spruce Goose move

By DAVID BATES
Of the News-Register

Evergreen Aviation officials have made Sept. 16 the target date for rolling Howard Hughes' HK-1 Flying Boat across Three Mile Lane toward its new permanent digs.

To reach its new home in the Captain Michael King Smith Evergreen Aviation Educational Center, the famous airplane needs to be hauled across Highway 18, which is known as Three Mile Lane inside McMinnville city limits.

The three- to four-hour operation, which officials figure will draw up to 15,000 spectators, will require closure of a nine-mile stretch of the heavily traveled highway, according to the Oregon Department of Transportation.

Although the city will help coordinate the move, and may provide extra patrols, ODOT will be responsible for making sure the operation goes smoothly, quickly and safely. "It's almost totally an ODOT thing," said Don Schut, McMinnville's public works director.

Several months ago, officials speculating about the timing of the move assumed that Evergreen would probably want to do it early in the morning, perhaps even before sunrise, to minimize conflicts with traffic. ODOT Region 3 Manager Don Jordan said an early morning move would be his first choice, perhaps on a Sunday.

However, Evergreen officials have their sights set on 10 or 11 a.m. on a Saturday, a prime period for weekend traffic from Portland to the coast.

"There will be traffic jams no matter when we do it," Jordan said. Hopefully, he said, Evergreen can get the road cleared by 1 p.m.

The museum is planning a massive media blitz prior to the event.

Officials are operating on the assumption that thousands of people will show up to watch the Spruce Goose's final move. And they think those more interested in simply getting to the coast in a timely fashion will want to know about alternate routes.

Jordan expects traffic to be diverted at McDougall's Corner, northeast of McMinnville. Anyone headed to the coast at the time of the move will need to stay on Highway 99, go through Lafayette and get back onto Highway 18 west of McMinnville, he said.

Message boards will be installed, he said, and flaggers will be out in force.

The Willamette Valley Medical Center will also be involved in the planning, mainly to coordinate alternate routes for emergency vehicles.

"They're expecting 10,000 or 15,000 people," Jordan said. "They just want to make sure it's a good event, clean and safe."

The massive plane will be moved across the road in pieces. It will be partially reassembled on the other side before being wheeled into the building being built to house it.

The plane's mammoth proportions include a wingspan of 320 feet, height of 79 feet, weight of 300,000 pounds and length of 218 feet.

Museum spokesman James Nelson said it will take three to five months to rebuild the plane. "It will be a once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience," he said.

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