From the Regional Administrator:
Greetings from the WSDOT Eastern Region.
It’s been a busy summer with most of our roadwork projects either wrapped up or nearing completion. We still have major work underway on the North Spokane Corridor. The BNSF tunnel project is coming along nicely with all of the pre-cast tunnel arches now in place.
September is Spokane Interstate Fair time and I’d like to thank the thousands of folks that stopped by our exhibit to say hello and get information of the NSC and other projects. The Fair is a great opportunity for our employees to meet people and have one-on one conversations about our projects.
Remember, if you have any questions about the information here or other transportation issues, please let me know. Give me a call at (509)324-6010 or e-mail at metcalk@wsdot.wa.gov .
Keith Metcalf
Regional Administrator
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Next major NSC contract has changes in store for US 2
The next big job on the US 395/North Spokane Corridor (NSC) is the US 2 Lowering contract.
The project, now being advertised for construction bids, includes excavation of approximately a million cubic yards of material in order to lower the US 2/Newport Highway route about 35 feet below its current level so the new freeway lanes can cross overhead. The contractor will excavate through sand, some perched water tables, and clay layers and the soil will be used to form parts of the southbound NSC lanes between Farwell Rd. and Francis Ave.
The job also includes bridge work with five precast concrete girder bridges (including one pedestrian/bike structure) equaling 42,000 square feet of deck area and one steel plate girder bridge; 980 feet long, crossing above US 2.
Other components of the contract include: Replacing the existing 75 year old, eight foot by eight foot, concrete box culvert at Deadman Creek with a 30 foot wide by 15 foot high culvert to provide fish passage and wildlife access. The work realigns the creek beneath US 2 and will restore wetlands adjacent to the old and new stream realignments.
Drivers will see some traffic restrictions during the work, which will get underway in spring 2009, with US 2 reduced to three lanes — two northbound and one southbound. Southbound traffic will have the option to use Market Street as an alternate route into Spokane.
Construction bids on the work are expected to be opened in October, 2008.
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Railroad project new for Region engineers
The Eastern Region engineering team under Ken Olson has taken on some new “Off-Road” work. Ken’s team is providing inspection and construction administration for the WSDOT Rail rehabilitation project.
There are three rail sections in this project: The CW Branch runs from Cheney to Coulee City, approximately 108 miles. Eastern Washington Gateway Railroad operates the line. They hauled 4000 rail cars of grain last year, which is equivalent to about 14,000 trucks.
The P & L Branch runs from Marshall to Pullman for about 81 miles. The Washington and Idaho Railroad operates this line.
Finally, the PV Hooper Branch extends from Hooper in Whitman County eastward. It branches with one line to St. John and the other to Colfax. It is operated by Watco (Palouse River and Coulee City Railroad).
The majority of these tracks are classified as Class 1 track which is based on the condition of the track. Class 1 has a maximum allowable speed of 10 mph. Due to the overall condition of these tracks, these projects will only maintain a Class 1 status.
Work on these lines includes replacing 4,036 ties, replacing 3,780 feet of rail, and placing 6,075 tons of ballast (the gravel rock under the tracks). In addition, the contractors will replace ties and rails and correcting dips in rails at 34 bridges, repair rail destressing at eight locations to prevent “sun-kinking" (see photo below), rehabilitate nine vehicle crossings, and various other smaller items of work.
(Sun-Kinking)
HDR Engineering is the consultant on these projects. They prepared the plans, trained our inspectors, and are providing assistance with inspection and administrating the contract.
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WSDOT and Stevens County work together on bridge
The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) Eastern Region, Local Programs office is working with the Stevens County Department of Public Works on the replacement of the Hedlund Bridge.
This bridge crosses the Kettle River and is located about three miles north of the intersection of SR 20 and US 395, just to the east of US 395 at the Kamloops Island campground.
The WSDOT is providing oversight on the project because it utilizes a portion of Washington State’s federal bridge funds, which are shared with local agencies. Region Local Programs offices administer these funds on behalf of the federal government.
The Hedlund bridge is unusual because of the unique girder design and the method used to place them. Due to the site’s topography, the structure was designed with a sag vertical curve built into the post-tensioned segmental girders. Instead of using a large barge mounted crane to assist in setting the 138 ft. and 203 ft. long girders, a girder launcher was used. The launcher features a steel structure designed to slide large structural members into place across an opening such as a canyon or a gorge.
You can view photos of the girder launching at the following Stevens County web link.
http://www.co.stevens.wa.us/publicwrks/Construction%20Projects/Hedlund%20Bridge%20Construction%20Photos.htm .
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WSDOT Signal Crew teams with Aztech Electric to put in traffic signal loops
For the second year, the Washington state Department of Transportation (WSDOT) Eastern Region Signal Crew has teamed up with a local electrical contractor to place in-ground traffic signal loops. This cost effective and efficient partnership has the contractor responsible for pavement saw cutting and the WSDOT Signal Crew responsible for all of the traffic control and electrical work.
These wire loops, buried under the pavement in every lane, provide the detection needed to activate the traffic signal when vehicles approach.
The job this year, led by WSDOT Signal Technician, Matt Anderson, consisted of cutting in 45 loops on State Route 904 at Betz Rd. in Cheney, and on US 2 at Deer Park/Milan Rd. in Riverside. These installations required approximately 1500 pounds of loop sealant, 10,000 feet of the underground detection wire, and 3,000 feet of two conductor shielded wire. It also involved removing and replacing sidewalk, and installing several hundred feet of underground conduit.
The Traffic Office Signal, Illumination, and ITS design team, led by Becky Spangle, provided support in the form of developing the plan sets that were sent out for bid as well as setting up the funding and managing the bid documents. This project was funded by the Q budget under low cost enhancements. The installation was necessary to replace aging and unreliable camera detection systems at these intersections.
According to Ken Heale, Eastern Region Transportation Electronics Supervisor, the maintenance visits between a camera detection system and a loop detection system can be as high as 3 to 1. “The cameras have many shortcomings” says Heale. “Weather (wind, snow, rain, bright sun), occlusion (blocking of a lane by traffic in an adjacent lane), and shadows all create reliability issues. For saw-cut detection loops, if the pavement the loops are cut into remains stable, we usually don’t have any problems.”
It took Aztech and the WSDOT Signals Crew approximately three weeks to complete this work. When everything goes well, it is possible to cut and install six loops per day.