From the Regional Administrator
Welcome to our January newsletter.
Due to a strong El Nino weather pattern, so far this winter is a little milder than the last two seasons. As always, our Maintenance crews stand ready to handle snow and ice duties should the weather change to a more normal pattern. The crews patrol their sections daily, pre-treating possible icy spots and looking for hazards, such as potholes or rock falls.
As always, if you have any questions on items in this newsletter, or other transportation issues, please let me know. Give me a call at (509) 324-6010 or drop me an e-mail at metcalk@wsdot.wa.gov .
Keith Metcalf
Regional Administrator
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Rock Slopes
Wet weather, especially during the spring thaw, brings changes to the landscape along the highways. Water is a very powerful force and can sometimes move dirt and rocks adjacent to the roadway. As they patrol their roadway sections, our maintenance crews monitor a number of locations where we have seen loose material on the slopes near our highways as a result of the freeze/thaw cycle. Drivers can also help. Recently we received a call from a Suncrest resident who travels on SR 291 who had noticed a few new rocks in the ditch along the road. Our crew responded and examined the area. They found the rocks that had fallen and noticed a few more that could possibly come loose. They brought in some heavy equipment and “scaled” the slope, pulling the loose rock off the slope above the road, rather than waiting for them to roll into the ditch or the roadway later.
Rock removal on SR 291
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Potholes
Potholes are another result of the eastern Washington freeze/thaw cycle. Since hot asphalt is not available during the winter months, our crews use a “cold mix” asphalt product until more permanent repairs can be made. Potholes can appear just about anywhere on short notice, so it’s important for drivers to pay close attention when they are driving. We even find weather-related holes on bridges. We recently filled a large one on the US 395/Columbia River Bridge near Kettle Falls. That particular incident required us to use a special truck bought in from Olympia to make repairs from underneath. While we were waiting for the truck, the Spokane-based WSDOT bridge crew placed a one-inch thick steel plate over the pavement damage.
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NSC News
Our contractor, Graham Construction, continues to work on the North Spokane Corridor with minor structural items underway on the US 2 Lowering and Bridges job. Rock blasting, and bridge support work is being done on the adjacent US 2 to Wandermere project. The contractor is placing rebar cages for the bridge piers and walls, then concrete is being poured. All work is weather-dependent and will ramp up as the weather improves over the next couple of months. We’re still on track for a fall 2011 opening of this portion of the NSC. This will be a four-lane segment from Farwell Road to the existing US 395 at Wandermere. When it opens, the drivable NSC will extend from Francis up to Wandermere—over 5 ½ miles of the NSC will be useable.
Right now we are seeing about 4,000 vehicles per day using the Francis to Farwell segment that opened last August. We expect those numbers to climb substantially next year when the Farwell to US 395 section and the NSC/US 2 interchange open next year. Another factor that could boost NSC use will be the completion of the railroad overpass on Freya Street between Sprague Avenue and Trent Avenue. Through traffic on Freya has been detoured over to Fancher since early August and that might be affecting vehicle volumes further north. That City of Spokane job should wrap up later in 2010.