Date:
Monday, October 30, 2006
Contact:
Derek Case, (425) 433-2000 (Maple Valley)
Greg Phipps, WSDOT Communications (206) 440-4702 (Seattle)
MAPLE VALLEY – For the second day running WSDOT will open a new lane on State Route 18 east of Maple Valley.
At 6 p.m. Friday crews crews will pull aside construction barrels and open a second westbound lane between Maple Valley and Issaquah Hobart Road. Crews opened a second eastbound lane Thursday morning.
Adding the new lane will help reduce congestion and trip times for westbound drivers who had become used to a bottleneck at Issaquah Hobart Road.
As crews complete remaining project work drivers can expect weekday lane closures between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. for the next three weeks on both westbound and eastbound SR 18. Drivers can then expect intermittent weekday lane closures through the winter for landscaping in and around wetland mitigation sites and along Taylor Creek.
In this project WSDOT and contractor Atkinson Construction:
- widened SR 18 from two to four lanes
- constructed an interchange at 244th Avenue SE
- built an overpass at SE 200th Street
- removed old surface street intersections at 236th Avenue SE, 244th Avenue SE, and SE 200th Street
- replaced bridges over SR 169 and the Cedar River
- improved salmon passage and habitat in Taylor Creek by replacing culverts with bridges and by realigning a 1500-foot section of the creek
- built 49 acres of wetland mitigation sites
- constructed an extensive network of drainage pipes and detention ponds to capture and clean highway runoff
For more information, visit www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/SR18/AuburntoI90/IHobart_I90.
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