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Project Title & Location
SR 539 - Tenmile to International Border Widening
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Project Description
Widening Guide Meridian Road to four 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
KPFF is the design consultant
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Recent Progress
KPFF was given Notice to Proceed in April 2004. Surveying and basemapping along the corridor has been completed, and channelization design is well underway at this point. The Value Engineering (VE) study performed in June identified methods to streamline the design and property acquisition process prior to construction. This will save both time and money by widening the existing roadway asymmetrically instead of symmetrically. This minimizes the total number of properties impacted and will reduce lane closures and traffic delays during construction.
We are proposing to build four roundabouts between Ten Mile Road and Badger Road. We will ask for community input about roundabouts at our next open house in February 2005.
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Design Construction Impacts
We have to buy a significant amount of property in order to widen the highway. We estimate that it will cost between $14 million and $19 million to buy all the new property needed to widen the highway.
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Environmental Impacts / Compliance
An Environmental Assessment was completed with a finding of "no significant impact" in 1998. These documents are being updated. A new basin-wide approach to wetland mitigation is currently being examined for implementation on this project.
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Impacts to Traffic
We are currently developing way to stage construction so that there will be fewer lane closures and smaller delays on traffic during construction.
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