Date:  Thursday, July 23, 2009

Contact:
Brenden Clarke, WSDOT Project Engineer, 360-874-3010
Karri Workman, WSDOT Communications, 360-704-3270

PORT ORCHARD – A project that eliminates the last at-grade intersection on SR 16 is reaching a major milestone as traffic shifts to new bridges that will carry vehicles over Burley Olalla Road.

Motorists begin using the new westbound bridge on Saturday afternoon, July 25 and the new eastbound bridge on Wednesday, July 29. With the shift to the new bridges, the speed limit through the project area increases to 60 mph.

WSDOT awarded the $16.3 million construction contract to Ceccanti, Inc. of Tacoma in June 2008. Work started in August 2008 with a planned construction duration of two years. WSDOT engineers and Ceccanti, Inc., worked together to rearrange the order of work, shaving nearly a year off the schedule. The project is on track to be complete this fall.

Moving traffic onto the new bridges allows crews to finish the Burley Olalla Road on- and off-ramps. The ramps were partially constructed in fall 2008. Since then, the ramps have been used as a SR 16 detour route. Until the new ramps open, there is no access to and from Burley Olalla Road at SR 16 except for emergency vehicles.

Overall, construction is 75 percent complete. Mainline SR 16 traffic impacts are minimal for the remainder of the project, with the exception of final paving and striping in the eastbound direction. That work requires a week of single-lane closures and is scheduled for September.

For more information about the Burley Olalla Interchange project, please visit www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/SR16/BurleyOlalla/.

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