Date:  Friday, January 30, 2009

Contact: Jeff Adamson, North Central Region Communications Manager, Wenatchee, (509) 667-2815, (509) 669-8778 Cell. E-mail: adamsoj@wsdot.wa.gov
Kevin Waligorski, North Central Region Project Engineer, Wenatchee, (509) 667-2860 E-mail: waligok@wsdot.wa.gov

WENATCHEE – A project that will reduce congestion by adding a fifth lane to the Senator George Sellar Bridge over the Columbia River was advertised to contractors this week.

Construction companies immediately began requesting copies of the 395 pages of project plans and specifications so they can prepare their bids. This six week process is for the first of the three projects which together will cost a total of $64 million and take four years to complete.

The SR 285 Additional Lane project adds a fifth lane to the Senator George Sellar Bridge that connects South Wenatchee and East Wenatchee. Space for a new eastbound lane comes by removing the current sidewalks. The sidewalks will be replaced with a new 10-foot wide bicycle and pedestrian facility being added outside the superstructure on the south side of the bridge.

The entire project budget is $16.4 million which includes planning, easement acquisitions, design and engineering work already complete in addition to the actual construction costs. Funding comes from the 2005 9.5-cent gas tax.

"This is an extremely complicated project," said Acting Region Administrator Dan Sarles. "An extraordinary effort has gone into this over the past several years and the staff deserves recognition. Coordinating and staging three separately funded projects with different legislative and federal timelines and directives was a challenge. So was soliciting and incorporating all the ideas from the many public meetings into the planning and final design. There was a great deal of technical input from our WSDOT and other bridge experts in addition to that from the professional staffs of Wenatchee and East Wenatchee and Chelan and Douglas Counties. We didn't stop there. We sought and got input from law enforcement, emergency service providers, school districts, transit, the railroad, bicycle proponents, agriculture packers and shippers, tourism officials and even homeless representatives. I'm proud of what the design team has produced. These projects are recognized as a statewide, not just a local priority."

The additional lane project will take two-years to complete, with most work done at night. Construction should begin in May and finish by November 2010.

Season one will see the sidewalk on the north side (westbound) removed and several of the overhead bridge supports replaced. Project Engineer Kevin Waligorski says, “The current curved cross-members would be too low to allow tall trucks to use the new outside lanes. That work will require as many as eight overnight complete bridge closures between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., but only

during season one”. The “normal” traffic plan will reduce the four lanes open during the day to 11-feet and drop the speed limit to 25 mph until construction shuts down for the winter. Until then, Sunday nights through Friday mornings from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m., traffic will typically be restricted to one lane in each direction.

When construction begins, pedestrians will be prohibited from crossing and WSDOT is contracting with LINK Transit to provide free trips, 6 days a week, across the bridge between locations on Mission Street on the west side and Wenatchee Valley Mall on the east side. On an average day, 35 to 40 pedestrians use the sidewalks to cross the bridge. Walkers and bicyclists may also continue to use the Apple Capital Loop Trail’s (ACLT) pedestrian bridge.

The project will also affect the ACLT at the east end of the bridge. Season one construction will require closing the trail for several weeks and detouring trail users to Valley Mall Parkway.

Season two will see the south sidewalk (eastbound) removed and the new bicycle and pedestrian deck built. Work, both seasons, will include widening the on/off ramps on both ends of the bridge and updating the illumination system.

The current bridge opened to traffic in 1950, replacing the two lane “pipe” bridge which was the first bridge over the Columbia River built in 1908 to carry traffic and an irrigation pipe to provide water to develop East Wenatchee. Waligorski said “This project reinforces, replaces or adds 96 truss members requiring some 40,000 high strength bolts to accommodate the additional weight from another lane of traffic and the new “outrigger” pedestrian path on the south side of the Sellar bridge. The design of the new members will match the existing bridge structure.”

The second project, building the bypass on the east end of the bridge, will begin in the fall of 2010 and be completed in 2011. The third project addressing the approaches and intersections on the west end of the bridge will be built in 2012. The pedestrian and traffic connections (such as elimination of the west end “weave”) will not be in their final alignment until all three projects are complete.

For more information, visit the project web page: http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/SR285/EastGeorgeSellerBridge/

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WSDOT keeps people, businesses and the economy moving by operating and improving the state's transportation systems. To learn more about what we're doing, including pictures, videos, news and blogs go to www.wsdot.wa.gov/news. Get real time weather, traffic, construction alerts, pass conditions, ferry, railroad, and airline information at www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic or dial 5-1-1. TTY users - call 1-800-833-6388. This news release is available electronically on the web at: www.wsdot.wa.gov/Regions/NorthCentral/news/

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