WSDOT - 2002 Project Highlights

WSDOT has wrapped up a season of construction projects to improve Washington's highways and Interstate freeways. Between January 1st and December 1st, WSDOT and its contractors have closed out 156 projects to rebuild interchanges and bridges, pave roads and make safety improvements across the state. For these 156 projects, the total of WSDOT engineer’s pre-bid estimates was $300.4 million. The total of the winning contractors' bids was $274.9 million. Final payments to contractors are right at $296 million. That's about 1.5% below our original engineer's estimates and about 7.7% above the total of the contractors’ bids.

This report card gives special attention to project performance in terms of cost and schedule, matters of great importance to the public and to the department’s performance accountability. However, as review of the specific project examples will show, these are not the only criteria by which projects should be judged. Other concerns include things like job quality and impacts to motorists. Indeed, sometimes schedules must be stretched or budgets grown when public input requires project revisions. The notes below will highlight specific experience in some of these areas.

WSDOT is working hard to account for our project delivery record to legislators, taxpayers and motorists. Below is a sampling of this summer’s projects.

Click on the stars to read the project results:

2002 State Map with locations of highlighted projects

Project Name	Location	Schedule	Cost	Comments
I-5 Tukwila to Pierce County Line HOV Lane – Stage 3	King County	Good	Fair	Completed seven days ahead of schedule and is expected to come in about 8% over the engineer’s estimates of $28 million.
SR 500 Thurston Way	Vancouver	Good	Good	This is the state's first design build project. It was completed on schedule and on budget ($22.7 million).
SR 16, Sprague Avenue to Snake Lake	Tacoma	Poor	Poor	Deficiencies in the plan required redesign work and extended the project construction schedule by about 90 working days. The project is expected to come in about 12% over engineer’s estimates of $15.2 million.
I-5 Widening, 93rd Avenue to Maytown	Thurston County	Good	Good	Completed on time and approximately 6% under the $8.5 million engineer’s estimate.
SR 529, Steamboat Slough Bridge Rehabilitation	Everett	Good	Mixed	Completed ahead of schedule and 58% over the $8 million engineer’s estimates due principally to revised traffic mitigation plans and a larger incentive payment earned by the contractor for an early project finish.
SR 303, Phase 2 Safety Improvement	Kitsap County	Fair	Good	Work is expected to finish slightly over schedule and is expected to be 3% under engineers estimates of $4.1 million.
US 2, Hewitt Avenue Trestle	Snohomish County	Good	Mixed	Completed work requiring 24 hour lane closure 10.5 days ahead of schedule. Project costs were 79% over the engineer's estimate of $4.09 million. This was due in part to an increase of 30% over the contractor's bid amount for revised traffic plans and early completion objectives.
US 2, Deer Rd. to Westwood Rd. Paving	North of Spokane	Good	Good	Completed on time and is expected to come in approximately 20% under engineer’s estimates of $2.8 million.
SR 500, Vancouver - Burnt Bridge Creek to Andresen Road	Vancouver	Good	Good	Completed on time and is anticipated to come in 9% - 10% under engineer’s estimate of $2 million.
US 12, Cowiche Creek to I-82 Paving	Yakima County	Good	Good	Completed on time and 19% under the $1.9 million engineer’s estimate.
I-90, Harvard Rd. Interchange- Westbound Ramp Revisions	Liberty Lake, Spokane County	Good	Good	Completed on time and is anticipated to come in at about 22% under engineer’s estimate of $1,692,122.
I-5 Olive to Boylston Electrical Upgrade	Seattle	Good	Poor	Completed on time but about 20% over the $1.6 million engineer’s estimate.
I-5 Northgate Bridge Deck Repair	North Seattle	Good	Mixed	Completed three days ahead of schedule at about 20% over the $1,292,460 engineer’s estimate and also over the bid.
SR 127, Church Hill Rd to Dusty (SR 26) Paving	Whitman County	Good	Good	Completed on time and is anticipated to come in at about 15% under the $1.3 million engineer’s estimate.
I-5 Ramp Paving – South Tacoma To Fife	Pierce County	Good	Good	Completed on time and is expected to come in about 10% under engineer’s estimate of $1.06 million.
SR 507, Centralia – I-5 to Old Skookumchuck River Bridge	Lewis County	Good	Good	Completed on time and about 24% under the $800,697 engineer’s estimates.
SR 543, Boblett Street Signalization	Blaine	Good	Good	Completed on time and about 21% under engineer’s estimates of $714,442.
SR 153, Carlton Bridge Repair	Okanogan County	Good	Fair	Completed ahead of schedule and 8% over the $484,508 engineer’s estimate.
US 97, Tonasket-Bonapart Creek Bridge Deck	Okanogan County	Good	Good	Completed on time and approximately 0.7% under engineer’s estimate of $153,568.
I-82, Ellensburg/Selah Area Variable Message Signs	Yakima County	Good	Mixed	Completed on time and approximately 13% over the $119,374 engineer’s estimates.
SR 500, NE 124th Ave. Intersection – Safety Improvements	Clark County	Good	Good	Completed on schedule and approximately .2% under the engineer’s estimate of $86,664.
Washington State Ferries Terminal Project
Kingston Ferry Terminal, Phase 2 Dolphin Replacements	Kitsap County	Good	Good	Completed ahead of schedule and 12% under engineer’s estimates of $1.7 million.

WSDOT Projects

Project Info

2002 Project Highlights