•  2003 Project Highlights
•  Evaluation Criteria

SR 141 - Klickitat County Pavers

Klickitat County

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Design: Construction Management: Schedule: Cost: Engineers Estimate: $3,272,467 Contract Award Amount: $3,675,675.10 Estimated cost for completion: $3,485,155 The project costs ended up approximately 6% under the award amount. The significant difference between the engineer’s estimate and the contract award amount resulted from the volatile oil market. The contract team managed most issues and worked to avoid major impacts to the cost and schedule of the project.

A Klickitat County/WSDOT team successfully repeated a joint venture to save time and money by paving two county roads in conjunction with sections of four state routes. This project was typical of rural construction paving projects with the exception of paving through several small communities. A good working relationship between the county, WSDOT and the prime contractor, who paved many state projects in the past, proved valuable in moving this project to completion on time and within budget. Through this cooperative effort, the paving team replaced more than 56 miles of aging, deteriorated roadway with a new, smooth driving surface on portions of SR 141, SR 141 Alternate, SR 142 and US 197, as well as portions of the county’s Rattlesnake and Oak Ridge roads.

Construction Summary

SR 141, located near Mt. Adams on the White Salmon River, is a heavily used recreational area. The contractor made every effort possible to inform area businesses of construction activities and traffic impacts. This route also meanders through the natural habitat for the endangered spotted owl and the feeding activity of these birds limited construction hours. Since all of the state routes were located near or adjacent to rivers, the contractor planned all activities to avoid environmental impacts. Using established relationships, the contractor, WSDOT and the county worked through a few small design and traffic control problems without impact to schedules or costs.

Portable changeable message signs were used on this project to inform the traveling public of construction activities. Traffic impact information was included in the region’s weekly travel advisory and targeted news releases were issued as needed during the project.

WSDOT coordinated a spot safety improvement by replacing about half of the mailbox posts along the paving route with swinging-arm mailbox posts (supplied by WSDOT) to help eliminate the hazards posed to WSDOT snowplows in winter. WSDOT offered this change to residents as part of the project outreach.

Contractor:
Mid-Columbia Paving Company, Yakima

WSDOT Contact:
Chuck Ruhsenberger, Area engineer
WSDOT Columbia River Gorge Project Office
Phone: 360-759-1310
E-mail: ruhsenc@wsdot.wa.gov

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