Date:
Friday, May 20, 2005
Contact:
Mike Westbay, (509) 945-7702, westbam@wsdot.wa.gov
Paul Gonseth, (509) 577-1811, gonsetp@wsdot.wa.gov
YAKIMA - It's your nickel, watch it work in Yakima. The end to one of Yakima’s biggest traffic problems begins Monday, May 23rd. The long waits at 18th Street /Nob Hill Blvd. and on SR 24, in front of Kmart will soon be history. A new bridge over I-82 will improve the Nob Hill interchange, and a new bridge over the Yakima River will make traffic flow better between Yakima and Moxee.
The 2003 Legislative Funding Package, now referred to as the "Nickel Package", provided the needed funding to construct this project. Max J. Kuney, General Contractor, was awarded the $34 million dollar contract to construct one additional lane in each direction on SR 24 from I-82 to Riverside Road. Max J. Kuney Company is a four-time recipient of the AGC/WSDOT Excellence in Contract Administration Award. At a pre-construction meeting Thursday, May 19, Tobin Smith, Project Manager for Kuney, said staging will start Monday, May 23. The first order of business is to begin constructing Pier number one of the Yakima River Bridge. Smith is planning an aggressive schedule with hopes of pouring the bridge deck this year and moving traffic to the new bridge in the spring of 2006. All new lanes are scheduled to be open to traffic by November, 2006.
Don Whitehouse, WSDOT Regional Administrator said; “This is a great project to cure one of the worst choke points in our local transportation system. Many key projects for our community are connected to this project. It’s very exciting”.
WSDOT inspectors and Kuney construction workers encourage motorists to proceed with caution through the work zone.
For more information on this project visit:
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/I82/KeysRd/default.htm
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