Date:
Friday, July 28, 2006
Contact:
Dustin Terpening, WSDOT Communications, (360) 757-5970 (Burlington)
Chris Damitio, Project Engineer, (360) 788-7400 (Bellingham)
BLAINE – Starting next week WSDOT and its contractor IMCO Construction will temporarily stop traffic and close lanes at the Blaine truck crossing (State Route 543) during the day. Crews are drilling shafts and filling them with steel and concrete. The shafts will allow crews to lower the highway 25 feet and build new retaining walls and an overpass at D Street. The closures are necessary for driver safety.
Starting Monday, July 31 and lasting for the next several weeks, crews will stop traffic and close lanes as follows:
- Crews will intermittently stop traffic for 10 minutes at a time between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. and 12 p.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, near D Street to insert long steel cages into drilled shafts.
- Crews will intermittently close the northbound truck lane between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. and 12 p.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, from Boblett Street to H Street.
Congestion will increase during the day. Drivers should prepare for delays, plan ahead, and consider alternate routes.
WSDOT will do everything they can to minimize delays and inform drivers. Highway information signs will alert drivers to the delays and drivers can call 511 to get updates on traffic. Those planning a trip can get border wait times by going to the WSDOT border page at: www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/border/.
Over the next two years crews will convert the Blaine truck crossing from a narrow and congested two-lane roadway into a safer and more efficient five-lane highway, which includes a designated truck lane better aligned with the border inspection booths and an overpass at D Street that will reconnect the community of Blaine. The aggressive construction schedule will have the new lanes open by fall 2008.
For more project information and to sign up for an email distribution list, visit our project Web page at www.wsdot.wa.gov/projects/sr543/i5_canadian.
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Drivers can now get real time traffic and weather information by dialing 5-1-1 from most phones. This new traveler information system builds upon the highly successful Washington State Highway hotline that managed 4.6 million calls each year. Callers can also use 5-1-1 to get statewide construction, mountain pass condition, and state ferry system information, as well as toll free numbers for passenger rail and airlines. TTY users can call 1-800-833-6388.
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