A Weekly Summary of WSDOT News and Activities

This is our last report for 2009. We will resume our weekly summary on January 1, 2010. WSDOT wishes you safe travel during this holiday season. 

Washington Jobs Now - ARRA funds help speed delivery of Bellevue Project six months
Maintenance & Operations feature - Timing is everything when it comes to clearing highways
Update of projects under way
Announcements
Upcoming meetings and events

Washington Jobs Now - ARRA funds help speed delivery of Bellevue Project six months

PBS Environmental Compliance Inspector Kevin Hood monitors geotechnical drilling on the I-405 Bellevue Braids project.

Crews broke ground December 11 on the Bellevue Braids, an I-405 project designed to relieve up to eight hours of congestion between Bellevue and Redmond. The $107.5 million project spans from I-405 between NE Eighth Street and SR 520, and SR 520 from I-405 to 124th Avenue NE. The project is known as the Bellevue Braids because the ramps linking I-405 to SR 520 look like braids.

The project was recognized as a critical shovel-ready project, receiving $30 million from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to advance the schedule. The Recovery Act funding, together with the quick response by local and state legislators, will result in drivers getting shorter commute times and a safer roadway approximately six months earlier than expected.

On December 7, Atkinson Construction, the design-build contractor chosen for this project, was given notice to begin construction. Atkinson estimates the project will directly support more than 300 construction jobs.

One of those jobs belongs to Gary Stensland of PBS Engineering + Environmental. Gary is the Environmental Compliance Manager for the project. “Thanks to this project, I’ll have another two and a half years of steady work,” said Stensland. “Had it not been for the funding, I’d be busy looking for the next project instead of digging into this one.” Stensland said this project will support up to four of PBS’s workers throughout the duration of the project and build on the company's extensive WSDOT design-build project experience.

Construction worker spending is expected to provide a boost to the local economy. Additionally, improved access to and from Bellevue resulting from the project will help support area businesses.
When complete, the project improvements are expected to:

• Reduce back-ups on the highest volume ramp on the I-405 corridor from northbound I-405 to eastbound SR 520;
• Improve traffic flow on eastbound SR 520 near the 124th Avenue NE ramp, leading in to the Northup business district in Bellevue;
• Reduce congestion on NE Eighth street, improving local access, and traffic flow in downtown Bellevue; and
• Enhance local pedestrian and bicycle access with a new, longer, wider NE 12th Street bridge.

The project is expected to wrap-up in 2012. 

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Maintenance & Operations feature - Timing is everything when it comes to clearing highways

WSDOT, WSP and an Everett tow company teamed up to remove a semi that slid off of I-5 near Bellingham. The semi was completely off  the freeway within 90 minutes.

Highway incident clearance times is one of the measurements the Governor has set for WSDOT and the Washington State Patrol (WSP) as part of the Government, Management Accountability and Performance (GMAP) program. Our GMAP goal is to reduce the average duration of 90-minute-and-longer blocking incidents on nine key state highways. Clearance times of under 90 minutes is a statewide WSDOT goal for all state highways.

Our goal was challenged on the night of December 13, when a semi tractor-trailer slid off I-5 near Bellingham, leaving the front-end of the truck jack-knifed, 40 feet down a slope with a ruptured fuel tank.

When WSDOT's Maintenance Supervisor Ric Willand came on the scene at about midnight, he and Maintenance Superintendent Tony Hernandez had already agreed the best course of action was to leave the truck put until daylight and better weather arrived. Instead, Willand learned from WSP that the truck's owners had already called for a tow crew out of Everett to come retrieve the rig and they'd be there in about 30 minutes.

The tow operators arrived in full force with a 60-ton rotator truck, 30-ton Class C tow, small tow truck and a big van loaded with lights, cutting torches, generators and most everything else that would be needed for a major incident. They guaranteed Willand they would have the semi off the freeway in less than 90 minutes, and they would do so mostly with a right-lane closure.

Now convinced that this plan would be less disruptive than the visual distraction for motorists if they waited until morning, Willand closed the I-5 right lane at about 1 a.m. The tows had the truck and trailer mostly up the bank by 1:30 a.m., then WSP conducted a rolling slowdown that closed both lanes and allowed the tows to spin the trailer into one lane and straighten the straighten out the tractor. Traffic was very light and the delay to drivers was about 17 minutes. The tow company had the semi completely off the Interstate by 2:30 a.m. Flexibility, teamwork and a well-prepared crew was key to making this potentially difficult and disruptive task seem easy.

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Update of projects under way

SR 104 Hood Canal Bridge - Crews continue to add and remove pontoon ballast weight on the Hood Canal Bridge, changing the way the west half draw span floats so it matches up with other pontoons and mechanisms on the bridge. To ensure accuracy this work must occur during slack tide – which translates into daytime bridge closures for motorists most weekdays. WSDOT and contractor Kiewit-General of Poulsbo are scheduled to complete daytime ballast tests by mid-January. In early-January, WSDOT is also scheduled to resume intermittent 90-minute closures from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. Monday-Friday. These closures will allow the contractor to complete functional testing, which includes approving items on a 90-plus page, 1,400-item operational checklist. Overnight work and functional testing sets the stage for 20 cycle tests of the west draw span in late January. The 20 test openings and closings of the west draw span must be error-free. If everything goes as planned, these tests take about eight to 10 hours. Once they are finished, Kiewit-General’s work on the bridge is complete.

I-405 Renton and Tukwila -  Contractor crews on Dec. 11 opened a new lane in each direction of I-405 between Renton and Tukwila, several months ahead of schedule. The new lanes stretch from I-5 to SR 167 and are part of the $91.5 million Renton Stage 1 – Widening Project funded by the 2003 and the 2005 gas tax increases. As part of this project, crews opened a new lane on southbound SR 167 in October. With the addition of the new northbound I-405 lane connecting to southbound SR 167 lane, drivers will see smoother traffic flow and reduced delays at this heavily congested interchange. Traffic engineers also expect reduced delays from northbound I-5 merging onto I-405. 

WSDOT’s work in the Renton area is not over. The next phase of construction, called Renton Stage 2, has been underway for the past five months. Crews will add a lane in each direction of I-405 between SR 167 and SR 169 and a new interchange at Talbot Road. The project improvements will open to traffic by 2011.

SR 532 Camano Island - Crews will install seven bridge girders, each the length of a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, at the new SR 532 General Mark Clark Bridge during Christmas week. The girders are being installed as part of the $84 million SR 532 corridor improvements project. Drivers should prepare for nighttime lane and complete road closures on SR 532 starting Dec. 21. The 186-foot long bridge girders will be trucked in from Tacoma on I-5 and I-405 on Dec. 21, 22, 23, 28 and 29. The girders will leave Tacoma after 9 p.m. and will take up two lanes the entire way. Once the girders arrive on SR 532, crews will temporarily close the highway for a few minutes at a time as the oversized trucks make their way west to the bridge. When the girders arrive, two 500-ton capacity cranes will hoist each girder into place. For the safety of drivers and crews, the Mark Clark Bridge will be closed to all but emergency vehicles for approximately 15 minutes per girder. That will allow crews time to attach the girders to cranes and safely move them into place.

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Announcements

Third tier Recovery Act projects come on line thanks to competitive bid climate 
Lower construction bids have generated enough savings to allow WSDOT to build seven more highway projects funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act than first expected.

Earlier this year, the Federal Highway Administration provided $492 million in Recovery Act funding for state and local highway projects in Washington State, $340 million for state projects and $152 million for local city and county projects. Gov. Gregoire and the Legislature identified 34 state highway projects, and a second tier list of 11 projects. By mid July, favorable contractor bids, on average 29 percent below engineer’s estimates, enabled WSDOT to apply federal stimulus funds to the second tier list of projects worth more than $80 million. Amazingly, by the end of October, enough Recovery Act funding remains for that WSDOT can build an additional seven new projects worth $12.3 million. Local cities and counties have also experienced lower contractor bids, resulting in 17 additional Recovery Act-funded projects worth $26 million.

The seven new state projects had to meet the requirement of being ready to go to contractors in 120 days or less. The projects were prioritized higher if they were located in economically distressed counties. The seven state projects moving forward include:

• US 195/Idaho State Line to Colton - Paving ($2,600,000)
• SR 503/1mi East of Rock Creek Bridge to Fredrickson Rd - Paving ($3,440,000)
• SR 14/I-5 to SE 164th Ave. Interchange - Paving ($2,160,000)
• US 97/ Orondo Northward - Paving – Chip Seal ($1,120,000)
• US 97/ Okanogan to Riverside – Chip Seal ($1,440,000)
• US 97/ Pateros South – Chip Seal ($560,000)
• SR 26/ Royal City East – Chip Seal ($960,000)

WSDOT and Sound Transit award I-90 concrete preservation project to Interstate Improvement 
WSDOT in partnership with Sound Transit on Dec. 16 awarded Interstate Improvement a $7.6 million contract to preserve and strengthen a three mile section of Interstate 90 between Bellevue and Mercer Island. This work is part of the I-90 Two-Way Transit and HOV Operations project. The I-90 Two-Way Transit and HOV Operations project adds HOV lanes on I-90 between Bellevue and Seattle and improves HOV access in Mercer Island and Bellevue. The new HOV lanes on the outer roadways will introduce 24-hour HOV capacity both eastbound and westbound and enable Sound Transit to start building light rail across Lake Washington in the center lanes.

The I-90 roadway improvements are being constructed in three stages. The pavement preservation contract is $7.6 million and will preserve and strengthen the existing concrete panels on both directions of I-90 between Bellevue Way SE and W Mercer Way and is expected to begin construction in early 2010. The work was initially part of Stage 2 of the project but was accelerated due to funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The remaining portion of Stage 2, which adds an HOV lane on eastbound I-90 between Mercer Island and Bellevue and modifies the existing reversible HOV ramp at 80th Ave SE on Mercer Island, was advertised to contractors on December 14 and is scheduled to begin construction in Spring 2010.

Stage 1 of the project, which included a new westbound HOV lane between Bellevue and Mercer Island and a new HOV off-ramp at 80th Ave SE on Mercer Island, opened to drivers in October 2008. All three stages of the $187.6 million project are anticipated to be complete in 2014. Sound Transit’s East Link light rail project, part of 36 miles of light rail expansion approved by voters in November 2008, is targeted to begin serving Mercer Island and Bellevue in 2020 and the Overlake area of Redmond in 2021.

Winter Schedule Begins Sunday, Jan. 3
WSDOT's Ferries Division begins its winter schedule on Sunday, Jan. 3 and brings a number of notable service changes to the Anacortes/San Juan Islands and Seattle/Bremerton routes, as well as the seasonal closure of the international route and the seasonal reduction to a two-boat weekend schedule on the Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth route. Details about changes affecting these routes can be found at www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries/.


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Upcoming meetings and events

There are no meetings or events scheduled for late December or early January at this time.

Express Lane Archive

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