Date:  Friday, October 14, 2011

Contact:
Jeff Cook, project engineer, 360-874-3010 (Port Orchard)
Joe Irwin, WSDOT communications, 360-507-6521 (Tumwater)

BREMERTON – Work to replace recently laid asphalt at a new roundabout starts this weekend, but it won’t hike the costs of the Manette Bridge Replacement Project or add time to ongoing road closures in Manette.

Earlier this week, Washington State Department of Transportation engineers determined that approximately 400 tons of hot mix asphalt placed in the Manette roundabout did not meet state standards for smoothness and long-term stability.

Crews start the rework at Saturday morning, Oct. 15, and are scheduled to complete the asphalt overlay by Tuesday evening, Oct. 18.

“This work will be done at the contractor’s expense and it won’t increase the length of the closure at the intersection,” said Jeff Cook, WSDOT project engineer. “It makes sense to do it now because the intersection of Wheaton Way and Harkins Street was already closed for the replacement project. This work won’t delay the reopening of these roads, and it certainly won’t delay the opening of the bridge next month.”

The weather-dependent rework involves saw-cutting, grinding out the pavement and then replacing it with 9 inches of new asphalt. The asphalt will be allowed to cool, and once temporary striping is installed, the intersection will be open to traffic.

The $60 million Manette Bridge Project removes the old bridge and replaces it with a new span that features two 11-foot-wide lanes, two 5-foot-wide shoulders, a 10-foot-wide walking path and a roundabout to improve safety and traffic flow. Construction of the bridge began in August 2010 and is scheduled to be completed in November 2011. For more information, visit www.wsdot.wa.gov/projects/sr303/manettebridgereplacement.

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