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Project Title & Location
SR 539: Horton Road to Ten Mile Road Widening
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Project Description
Widening Guide Meridian Road to five lanes will increase safety and traffic capacity along this heavily-traveled traffic corridor. This widening work will also provide an additional lane of traffic in each direction along a major freight corridor between Bellingham and Aldergrove, British Columbia.
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Recent Progress
Necessary property acquisition began in June 2001 and is currently 71% complete. Several more pieces of property (approx. 7-8) are currently in the final stages of acquisition.
Contract Plans and Specifications (PS&E) for the overall project are currently 90% complete. Present focus is on the completion of PS&E for the limited work to be done in Phase 1 (see below for more details).
During a recent site visit, the US Army Corps of Engineers requested that additional features be included in one of the project wetland mitigation sites - this work was not in the original scope but has since been incorporated in the agreement with the consultant, and the additional design work is nearly complete. The resulting product will provide higher water-quality in the mitigation site, as well as provide a significant credit towards offsetting wetland impacts during construction.
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Design Construction Impacts
A portion of the work has been broken out in advance of the 2007 ad date - this Phase 1 contract (consisting mainly of select clearing and earthwork, the construction of 4 stormwater ponds and 1 wetland mitigation site, as well as other preparatory work) will go to advertisement late spring 2005, avoiding a costly redesign triggered by stormwater standard changes which take effect at the end of the '05-'07 biennium. Phase 1 funding has been approved and authorized.
The omission/underestimation of some bid items from previous construction estimates, as well as underestimation of wetland buffer impacts, increased the projected funding required for project build-out. Unexpected delays and tasks in the design process have also added somewhat to the overall project budget.
Current conflicts regarding a Group B public water system well on one of the private parcels may impact the project budget and possibly the design schedule.
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Environmental Impacts / Compliance
This project will provide storm water detention and treatment ponds. New wetlands will also be constructed to mitigate for impacts during construction at Deer Creek, Ten Mile Creek and Four Mile Creek.
Environmental permitting for the entire project is being aggressively pursued at present, in order to have permits in place for construction of Phase 1 next year. However, environmental issues, chiefly the Talent Decision and new wetlands discovered in the wetland redelineation recently completed, have pushed the projected ad date back approximately one month, from April 2005 to May 2005.
Additionally, the Historical and Cultural Survey update completed earlier this fall has determined that a potentially historic structure exists where a stormwater pond has been situated in the design. The pond location is fixed, as the pond cannot be relocated due to critical design factors. The State Historic Preservation Office is currently determining whether the structure can be removed. If it is cannot be moved, there will be an impact to the design schedule.
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Impacts to Traffic
Staged construction will minimize traffic impacts. During construction, one lane of traffic will be open at all times. Detour routes will be provided when side roads are closed.
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