Date:
Friday, February 15, 2008
Contact:
Meghan Soptich, WSDOT communications, 206-440-4704 (Seattle)
Marlin Lenssen, WSDOT Project Engineer, 425-225-8796 (Everett)
This work has been postponed due to an equipment breakdown. Crews expect to reschedule the work for the week of Feb. 25.
ARLINGTON – Next Tuesday crews working to improve State Route 9 between Arlington and Bryant will begin setting girders for a new bridge that will take the highway over Harvey Creek and Harvey Creek Road.
“We’ll use two cranes to set two girders each day,” said Project Engineer Marlin Lenssen. “We expect to have all six girders in place by Thursday afternoon.”
Drivers can expect periodic 40-minute closures of Harvey Creek Road between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 19 through Thursday, Feb. 21 as crews move the girders into place. Crews will completely close the road only while each girder is in the air.
Crews constructed the foundation for the bridge last fall, and will start building the bridge deck once the girders are in place. The bridge is at the north end of a new one-mile stretch of highway crews are building to eliminate a sharp curve on the existing highway, which currently limits sight distance for drivers, increasing the risk of collisions.
In addition to straightening the dangerous curve, crews are also adding new turn lanes at the intersections of 252nd St NE and 268th St NE, upgrading lighting, replacing culverts to improve fish passage, and making other changes to enhance safety on the highway. They’ve been busy since starting construction last summer, and have already replaced one culvert, installed new drainage systems and filled a dip in the highway near Bryant.
“Getting the bridge girders in place is a big milestone for the project,” said Lenssen. “We are on schedule and expect to open the new turn lanes and straightened roadway to traffic by this fall.”
This $20 million project is funded in part by the 2003 Nickel Gas Tax. For more information, visit www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/SR9/SchlomanTo268thNE/.
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