Project of the Week - SR 28 Project Includes Construction "Firsts"
|
Contractor crews installing the new stormwater pipe as part of improvement work on SR 28 at 27th and Empire in East Wenatchee.
|
A 500-foot stormwater pipe drilled underground and an irrigation bridge replaced in a matter of hours - not days - were some of the “firsts” experienced by WSDOT’s North Central Region. These occurred during a safety improvement project that extended a center turn-lane and added new lighting to address a high accident corridor. SR 28 (Sunset Highway) is a major corridor through East Wenatchee near the Columbia River in Douglas County and this was one of a series of projects to relieve congestion and improve safety on this busy route.
With the widened roadway, a new stormwater system was required. Typically, a retention pond is built along the right of way. In this case, even purchasing the adjacent 15-acre apple orchard wouldn’t meet the volume/absorption requirements. WSDOT already owned property below the highway along the river where a retention pond would work. Getting the stormwater to the site, however, presented a situation as unpleasant as tearing out 15-acres of orchard. The cut to install the two-foot pipe would have to be 40-feet deep and 100-feet wide, destroying orchard land, backyards and garages. Instead, new hydraulic directional drilling equipment was used to lay the pipes underground. In previous projects, it had been used for boring underground to place utilities under some highways, but nothing of this scale had been tried on a WSDOT project. Crews used a 506-foot bore to place the 24-inch pipe under that valuable agricultural and residential property. At $440 per foot, the $225,000 price tag still compared favorably with the undesirable alternatives. The system was also designed to accommodate the future expansion of Sunset Highway to five lanes.
Another potentially controversial element of the $2.7 million project involved replacing a major canal crossing. With 18,000 vehicles a day on the route, the local contractor committed to a plan that closed the highway entirely for one weekend. With flaggers and well publicized detours, crews completed the work 18 hours early reopening the highway at noon on Sunday. Extensive public outreach before and during construction, including neighborhood meetings produced very few complaints to the project office during the five months the work was underway.
top
Incident of the Week - Cable Barrier Does Its Job in Bellingham
On the morning of August 6, WSDOT maintenance lead tech Stan Hanson had just finished fixing some cable damage along I-5 in Bellingham. A short distance away a northbound passenger vehicle was rear ended by a Ford F-250 pickup. The collision could have been much worse - the cable barrier stopped the car before it entered the southbound lanes. And just like the incident before it, there were no injuries.
There are 5.6 miles of cable median barrier in the Bellingham area, and to date, there have been no cross-median collisions. The first cable barrier in the area was installed in 1999. Additional cable barrier was added in 2003 and 2006. In Bellingham, cable barrier has stopped numerous cars and in the last two years also stopped two errant semi trucks.
top
Update of Projects Under Way
I-5 Everett - As part of Sound Transit’s I-5 South Everett Freeway Station Project, crews closed southbound I-5 for three nights, August 18 - 20, to demolish one of the old 112th Street SE bridges. Crews closed all lanes of southbound I-5 between 128th Street SE and SR 527. Traffic was switched to the new 112th Street SE bridges earlier in the month. Crews will demolish the bridge over northbound I-5 August 25-27, which will require total nighttime closures of northbound I-5. The project, scheduled for completion in late 2008, will allow buses, carpools and vanpools to go directly from the I-5 HOV lanes to a new 400-stall park-and-ride lot in the I-5 median at 112th Street SE.
SR 9 Marysville - It took only 10 weeks for WSDOT and contractor Pacific Road and Bridge to widen the intersection of State Route (SR) 9 and Lauck Road/108th Street NE. The new and improved intersection and new turn lanes opened on August 14. New left-turn lanes will reduce backups at this intersection by removing turning vehicles from the path of fast-moving traffic on SR 9. Crews widened the intersection to add left-turn lanes on SR 9, built out shoulders, installed lighting and constructed a southbound right-turn lane onto SR 9 from Lauck Road. Crews also installed a new facility to treat the road’s stormwater run-off and will replant the slope in the project area.
US 101 Hoquiam - On August 15 crews finished checking the weight balance of US 101’s Simpson Avenue Bridge one day early, which ended a series of bridge openings scheduled for this week. The break for motorists contending with the bridge openings is short-lived, however. On August 16, five days of pile-driving operations near the bridge began. This work is crucial to the three-month bridge closure scheduled for early January. At that time, WSDOT will repair and replace mechanical, electrical, and structural components on the bridge. Traffic will be detoured.
SR 410 Naselle - The Dismal Nitch Safety Area on SR 401, one mile east of the US 101 Astoria-Megler Bridge, is now fully operational with a newly installed water system. With this new water system, it will no longer be necessary to close the rest area each year during the winter months due to the adverse effects of heavy rainstorms. The rest area will be open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
top
Announcements
WSDOT Calls for Projects that Reduce Drive-Alone Commuting
WSDOT is looking for innovative and effective programs that get people out of their cars and into buses, trains, vanpools, or other commute options. In Round I of the 2007-2009 Trip Reduction Performance Program (TRPP), applicants competed for $1.5 million. The Washington State Legislature has made available an additional $1 million for Round II.
Private, public, and non-profit entities are eligible to compete for Trip Reduction Performance Program funds to reduce drive-alone vehicle trips. Successful organizations can receive up to $100,000 per year by creating a project that reduces the number of employees who drive alone to work. Projects with multiple partners can earn even more, up to $250,000 per year. WSDOT will reimburse startup costs and, if the project is successful at getting people to take a bus, a bike, or other commute alternative on a regular basis, WSDOT will pay for vehicle trips reduced.
In August and September WSDOT staff will conduct free training sessions on how to develop a proposal. Interested organizations can sign up for training or request a proposal packet by contacting Hiep Tran at tranh@wsdot.wa.gov or (360) 705-7806. Proposals are due at 5:00 p.m. on September 21, 2007.
Two New Alternatives on the Table for SR 3’s Belfair Bypass
WSDOT engineers have developed two new south connection alternatives for the SR 3 Belfair Bypass. Now that they’ve been unveiled, WSDOT wants to hear what the public thinks about them. This action comes in response to a request from Mason County officials for an alternative that would accommodate a future Rasor Road Connection. These alternatives were created north of the railroad bridge and will help reduce impacts to the high school and Alta Vista neighborhood. The two new alternatives are:
• S5-this alternative places traffic primarily on existing SR 3 and treats the new bypass as a secondary route.
• S6-this alternative places traffic primarily on the new bypass alignment and treats existing SR 3 as a secondary route.
The SR 3 Belfair Bypass, once complete, will relieve congestion around the downtown Belfair area by providing an alternate route for through traffic.
Thanks, Troopers!
Troopers Jeff Sevigney, Will Thompson, Joe Pass, and Wayne Turner take a short break in front of the WSDOT offices in Spokane. |
WSDOT's Eastern Region, headquartered in Spokane, invited the Washington State Patrol over for coffee and cinnamon rolls in thanks for a great job patrolling the Interstate 90 work zones this season. The increased presence of the WSP, especially the motorcycle troopers, inside the narrow downtown Spokane work zone was one of the reasons that the job went off without any collisions inside the 1.7-mile “chutes” during the two-season project.
top
Gray Notebook Highlight - Cross Cutting Management Issues -Consultant Use
WSDOT uses consultants to handle workloads that the department does not have the resources or expertise to perform with internal resources. We use two different types of consultant agreements: On-call task orders to perform new services to WSDOT for a set period of time; and Project-specific agreements for projects that present a special challenge or requires special expertise. From October 1, 2006 to March 31, 2007, the net totals for new on-call consultant authorizations was $86,818,562, and for project specific agreements the net total was $5,475,986. For the same period one year ago, new consultant authorizations were $75,775,913, and for project specific agreements was $32,897,815. Detail on this topic can be found in the Beige Pages of the March 2007 Gray Notebook at: www.wsdot.wa.gov/accountability.
top
August Open Houses, Meetings and Events
19 - 22, Sunday through Wednesday - Public Transportation Conference and Expo - Vancouver, WA: "Expanding Our Horizons" is the theme of this year's public transportation conference, bringing together public transportation providers, planners and advocates. Location: Hilton Hotel and Convention Center, 301 West Sixth Street, Vancouver, WA.
22 - Wednesday, 10 a.m., Ribbon cutting, I-90 Harvard Road Pedestrian Bridge - Liberty Lake: WSDOT is hosting an event to celebrate the completion of a new bicycle and pedestrian bridge over the westbound on ramp to Interstate 90. Location: Liberty Lake/Harvard Road Interchange. Parking is available behind the Best Western on Pepper Lane, Liberty Lake.
22 - Wednesday, 6 - 8 p.m., Open House, Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Project - Seattle: WSDOT project team members will provide information and ask for feedback on electrical line relocation work and other construction activities in Seattle's Pioneer Square this coming fall. Location: Pioneer Square, Grand Central Arcade, Seattle.
24 - Friday, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m., Commute Trip Reduction Board Meeting - Olympia: The CTR Board establishes program guidelines for the state's Commute Trip Reduction program and ensures statewide consistency among county and local ordinances. The board develops reviews and approves local and regional and state plans, allocates funding, and provides general policy guidance for the CTR program. Location: Transportation Building, 310 Maple Park Avenue SE, Olympia.
For more details, please visit the WSDOT Calendar of Events.
Weekly Report Archive
top