Project of the Week - More cameras at the Canadian border
New cameras were added on the four highways at the US and Canada border crossing near Blaine. |
The wait isn't over at the border, but at least you'll be able to see it better. We recently expanded the number of cameras we have pointed at our highways near the border to 16. All four highways leading to border crossings now have cameras. The cameras are available via www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/border/. There are eight cameras on I-5, five on SR 543, two on SR 539 and one on SR 9. The I-5 Peace Arch border crossing is the third busiest passenger vehicle crossing on the U.S.-Canada border, and the SR 543 Pacific Highway crossing is the fourth busiest commercial crossing.
WSDOT also installed traffic detectors at each crossing to measure the border wait times. The WSDOT Web site and I-5 radios and signs will display the wait times, helping drivers make informed decisions about where to cross. Engineers are connecting the wires to the system and expect to broadcast the wait times by April. The advance information will help drivers make choices before they hit the road. WSDOT also has made traffic maps and cameras available for many Web-accessible cell phones at http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/small/.
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Maintenance & Operations Feature - Crews assess North Cascades Highway, plan for reopening
WSDOT Maintenance crews will begin clearing of the North Cascades Highway on March 24. |
WSDOT Avalanche Control and Maintenance officials traveled the
SR 20 North Cascades Highway from the east closure point at Early Winters, west of Mazama 20 miles to Rainy Pass on March 12. They assessed the conditions to determine when the annual spring reopening effort could start. Work is scheduled to begin March 24 and should be finished by May 1, barring weather delays or equipment breakdowns.
The snow depths ranged from four to more than nine feet over the pavement from Early Winters to Washington and Rainy Passes. Below the avalanche chutes in the Cutthroat Ridge zone, snow slides were as much as 20 feet deep and through the Liberty Bell Mountain zone, the slides were 40 to 50 feet deep over the roadway. Contrary to the norm, there was more snow at Rainy Pass and to the west than at Washington Pass and to the east. Heavy snows caused avalanches that twice, forced the west closure point to be moved from Diablo, 13 miles down to Newhalem.
The highway was closed for the season on December 4th. Last spring, the highway reopened on April 26th. Visit the North Cascades.
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Update of projects under way
I-5 Bellingham - Starting April 1, WSDOT will close lanes at night and on weekends to repair and repave more than three miles of I-5 in Bellingham. Crews will replace 212 broken concrete panels, pave four rough ramps, and smooth 11 bumpy transitions across bridges. The work will take up to two months to complete. Drivers should expect significant delays. The biggest closures will take place on four weekends in April and May. During these 56-hour closures, crews will reduce I-5 to one lane in each direction from Samish Way to Sunset Drive. Crews will close the lanes at 10 p.m. Friday and open them at 6 a.m. Monday.
US 12 Walla Walla - On March 18, WSDOT and its contractor will begin the first major traffic revision for construction of the new four-lane section of US 12 from the Frenchtown vicinity to Walla Walla. Crews will permanently close a portion of Dell Avenue to accommodate the new US 12 alignment. This section of the US 12 corridor improvement will build approximately nine miles of new four-lane divided highway. WSDOT will construct four intersections and an overpass with ramps at Pine Street. Crews will construct roundabouts at the US 12 ramp intersections and the crossroad at the Pine Street overpass.
SR 31 Metaline Falls - Crews began repairs on March 10 of a sinkhole that developed on SR 31 just north of the town of Metaline Falls in Pend Oreille County. When crews discovered the hole on March 6, it was about three feet away from the roadway. The hole was about 7 feet in diameter and an estimated 12 feet deep. Overnight, the hole enlarged and undermined part of the roadway surface. Crews closed SR 31 to all traffic just north of Metaline Falls to excavate the entire roadway and re-build the underlying base with soil, rock and gravel, and then repave the highway with temporary pavement. The work took four days to complete. Permanent paving will be placed when hot-mix asphalt becomes available.
I-90 Spokane - A project to upgrade the guardrail on two bridges in the Spokane area will get underway on March 17. The work involves adding new guardrail on the I-90/Latah Creek Bridge just west of downtown Spokane and the Lindeke Street Bridge which crosses over the freeway just to the west of the Latah Creek structure. This new rail will be in addition to the existing bridge rail and will bring these bridges up to current guardrail design standards. Drilling, attaching new posts, and installing the new guardrail on the Latah Creek Bridge will take about five or six weeks.
I-405 Bellevue: Crews working for WSDOT began demolishing the Paragon Hotel at 818 NE 112th on March 10 to make way for a new bridge at NE 10th Street. Construction is taking place over the next four weeks during business hours. WSDOT is completing the NE 10th construction in partnership with the City of Bellevue and Kuney Construction to improve northern access to downtown Bellevue and the medical district. The NE 10th Street bridge will provide an alternative to NE 8th Street for motorists crossing I-405. In addition to the freeway crossing, WSDOT is building an enhanced water quality and storm water treatment pond that includes a natural
landscape to create an urban wetland where the hotel once stood.
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Announcements
WSDOT receives clean fiscal report from State Auditor’s Office
For the first time in 21 years, the Washington State Department of Transportation annual fiscal audit included no report findings by the State Auditor’s Office. Most significantly, the audit found that WSDOT’s roll out of the new Wave2Go electronic fare collection system through the ferry system in 2007 established the necessary revenue collection controls previous fiscal audits had called for.
“We are pleased the audit acknowledged WSDOT’s progress and our overall attention to maintaining and improving controls over public resources throughout the department,” said Paula Hammond, Secretary of Transportation. “It’s been more than two decades since WSDOT has received a clean audit. A lot of credit goes to our WSDOT managers and employees who take their responsibility over public resources very seriously.”
The State Auditor’s Office provides an annual audit of WSDOT’s accountability for public resources and compliance with state laws and regulations and its own policies and procedures. The State Auditor’s Office found that WSDOT’s internal controls were adequate to safeguard public resources in the areas they tested. The audit for fiscal year 2007 was released on March 10, 2008.
Spring in Paris with the upcoming Wheel Options Campaign
Commuters who participate in Wheel Options at least twice from March 9 - 22 will be eligible to win a trip to Paris for two. Wheel Options is a semiannual campaign sponsored by the Washington State Ridesharing Organization (WSRO), a non-profit group dedicated to increasing the use of transportation options. For the campaign, WSRO teams up with the WSDOT, transit agencies, local jurisdictions, and private companies to encourage people to try a new commute. Last year more than 50,000 people participated statewide in the Wheel Options campaigns.
The state’s largest worksites promote Wheel Options as part of their participation in the state’s Commute Trip Reduction (CTR) Program. Each weekday morning, employees commuting to worksites participating in Commute Trip Reduction remove approximately 26,000 vehicles from our state’s roads. This saves space on the roads while reducing air pollutants by about 4,100 tons per year, eliminating greenhouse emission by more than 76,000 tons a year and gasoline consumption by more than eight million gallons a year.
WSDOT Ferries Division launches testing phase of biodiesel fuel project
Biodiesel testing on the 124-car ferry Issaquah began on March 10 as WSDOT Ferries Division launches the Biodiesel Research and Demonstration Project. WSDOT is partnering with the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency (PSCAA) and other regional stakeholders to test the use of biodiesel in the marine environment. Next month WSDOT plans to begin testing biodiesel on the 87-car Klahowya. The third state ferry to receive biodiesel fuel will be the 87-car Tillikum. The tests are scheduled to run until February 2009.
Biodiesel is a renewable fuel made from vegetable oils, recycled cooking greases or animal fats. It contains minimal sulfur and is compatible with diesel-powered vehicles like WSDOT’s ferries. Using biodiesel instead of traditional petroleum-based fuels reduces emission of particulate matter and greenhouse gases, which impact air quality and the Earth’s climate.
The decision to test biodiesel was based on Gov. Chris Gregoire’s 2005 executive order for sustainability and 2006 legislation requiring state agencies to use a minimum of 20 percent biodiesel by 2009. Each year, the state ferry system burns approximately 17 million gallons of diesel fuel on its ferries, making the agency a significant fuel consumer in Puget Sound.
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Gray Notebook Highlight - Capital Project Delivery
Since 2003, WSDOT has delivered a total of 125 Nickel and Transportation Partnership Account (TPA) projects for $1.298 billion - almost $4 million less than the $1.303 billion legislative budget expectation. By the end of March, more than half of the projects funded by the 2003 Nickel and 2005 TPA will either be under construction or completed. Fifty-seven Nickel and TPA projects are either currently under construction or have been advertised for contractor's bids. These include projects to relieve congestion on I-405 in King County and I-5 in Lewis County, and improve safety on US 12 in Walla Walla County, SR 410 and SR 164 in King County and SR 24 in Benton and Yakima counties. More details on this topic can be found in the Beige Pages of the December 2007 Gray Notebook at: www.wsdot.wa.gov/accountability.
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March open houses, meeting and events
17, Monday, 2 p.m., Ribbon-cutting ceremony, Tacoma I-5 Improvements - Tacoma: Join WSDOT and community members as we celebrate the reopening of the Delin Street Bridge. Work is part of the $72.9 million I-5 HOV South 48th to Pacific Avenue project. In addition to rebuilding the Yakima and Delin Street bridges, the project also built a new exit to downtown Tacoma, and added a one-mile long collector-distributor roadway and a new connection from SR 16 to northbound I-5. Location: Holy Rosary Church, 520 S. 30th Street, Tacoma.
18 & 19, Tuesday and Wednesday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monthly meeting, Washington State Transportation Commission - Olympia: The State Transportation Commission, an independent state agency, will hold its regular monthly meeting. The meeting is open to the public. The Commission oversees the implementation of transportation policy and the operational plans for highways, ferries and intercity passenger rail. Location: Transportation Building, 310 Maple Park Avenue SE, Olympia.
22, Saturday, 9 a.m., Tour, Alaskan Way Viaduct - Seattle:
Join WSDOT for a short walking tour of the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Participants will take a guided tour with project engineers and inspectors to learn about how we monitor the viaduct and take a closer look at the damage incurred during the 2001 Nisqually earthquake. We’ll also talk about the history of the waterfront, current construction work, and the plan to take down the viaduct by 2012. We will hold the tours on March 22 from approximately 9 a.m. until noon, and each should last approximately 45 minutes. Because the inspection limits the number of people allowed on the viaduct, reservations are required. Priority will be given to those who have not attended previously. If you would like to participate in the tour, please send an e-mail to viaduct@wsdot.wa.gov , or call 1–888–AWV–LINE and leave a message with your contact information. After your reservation is received, you will receive a confirmation e-mail with your tour time and other details. For safety purposes, no children or pets are allowed on the tours. Location: Tours will meet at the Columbia Street on-ramp to the Alaskan Way Viaduct.
For more details, please visit the WSDOT Calendar of Events.
Weekly Report Archive
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