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Project Title & Location
SR 539: Horton Road to Ten Mile Road Widening
MP 1.67 to MP 6.26
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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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Contractor/Consultant
The construction contract was awarded to IMCO General Construction of Bellingham.
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Recent Progress
This contract was advertised to bidders on January 16, 2007. Bids were opened on March 14, 2007. The low bid was approximately 10% over the engineer’s estimate. Additional funding was allocated during the 2007 legislative session and the project was awarded to IMCO in April 2007. Work commenced on June 4, 2007.
Most work to date has focused on utility relocation, which in most part is being done by the respective utility companies. Underground and overhead utilities need to be relocated in order to facilitate widening of the roadway. This work is expected to be completed by 12/31/07.
Other work has focused on the construction of the west side of the new bridges at Fourmile and Tenmile Creeks. We cannot remove the old structures and finish these bridges until our next environmental window opens which is the summer of 2008.
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Design Construction Impacts
As there are numerous utilities in this corridor and it is anticipated that visible progress may not be apparent this first year. Most construction activities may focus on underground utility installation, overhead utility installation and relocation and bridge construction at Tenmile and Fourmile Creeks.
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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.
Environmental permitting for the entire project is complete. Environmental issues and new wetlands discovered in the wetland re-delineation completed in late 2004 pushed the projected advertisement date out from the originally scheduled April 2005.
Even under construction we must maintain the highest levels of environmental compliance. This is an ongoing and active process to ensure compliance while also building a facility in the timeliest manner and with the least disruption to travelers.
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Impacts to Traffic
Staged construction will minimize traffic impacts. During construction, one lane of traffic in each direction will be open at all times. Detour routes will be provided when side roads are closed.
Roadway closures may be allowed for limited durations during night time hours. When there are roadway closures signed detours will be provided on county roads.
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