From the Regional Administrator
Welcome to our October 2010 newsletter. This month we highlight a completed bridge and some construction projects.
With snow already covering some of the mountain peaks in the Inland Northwest, winter is closing in on us faster than we may want. As a resource for winter driving information, I invite you to check out our Winter Driving page on the internet. It has information on traction equipment for your vehicle, suggestions for an emergency car kit, and links to our Mountain Pass Reports. In addition, as a special seasonal feature for winter drivers in our seven-county, northeast Washington region, we list road conditions for our more heavily traveled highways; Interstate 90, U.S. 2, 195, and 395, plus SR 26. We’ll start that service a little later in November as our crews begin their, seven-day per week, winter schedules. it's located on the WSDOT Travel Alerts web page.
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 A. Metcalf, P.E.
Regional Administrator
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SR 27/Pine Creek Bridge
The new Pine Creek Bridge along SR 27 opened to traffic on Thursday, October 21st, making flood-related closures a thing of the past.
The new taller, wider concrete bridge located between Oakesdale and Tekoa, in northeastern Whitman County, replaced a vintage timber bridge originally built in 1937. Crews also raised the adjacent roadway during construction.
Prior to the new bridge, Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) maintenance crews routinely had to close SR 27 when snow was melting because water would flood across the low-lying roadway.
The new bridge and elevated roadway are long-term fixes that will help reduce the risk of flood damage and prevent costly emergency repairs.
Although the bridge and roadway are open to traffic, the contractor will wait until spring to pave the final layer of asphalt. The warmer spring weather will ensure that the final layer will be high quality and meet specifications.
Funding for this $2.3 million construction project came from the Transportation Partnership Act passed by the 2005 legislature.
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I-90/Port of Entry
Work continues on the new Washington State Patrol Port of Entry facility on Interstate 90 at the Idaho/Washington border. The contractor is working on the scale system, along with the weigh station and inspection buildings.
In addition, they are placing concrete pavement at the site, constructing drainage facilities, and installing electrical items. The new facility is located about a mile west of the state line and will open mid 2011.
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I-90/Sunset Hill project coming in 2011
We awarded a major Interstate 90 project to a Spokane area contractor in October. Acme Concrete Paving, Inc. of Spokane will handle the I-90/Geiger Blvd. to Downtown Spokane project which is slated to be underway in 2011. Acme submitted a construction bid of $7,849,477 for the work.
The job involves pavement restoration on Interstate 90 from just west of downtown Spokane to the Geiger Blvd. exit at the top of the Sunset Hill. It includes grinding the concrete pavement surface to remove the studded tire ruts and replacing several broken concrete panel sections on the Sunset Hill section and resurfacing the Latah Creek Bridge.
Drivers in the area will see some major impacts due to the necessary construction work including adjustments, including some closures, for access to and from US 195 during various phases of this work. Look for an expanded project website in the near future as these plans get firmed up.
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US 395 paving
Another paving project was awarded in October. The US 395/Lee Road to Interstate 90 job was awarded to Central Washington Asphalt of Moses Lake with a construction bid of $4,723,890.
The work consists of grinding out the top layer of asphalt pavement in the southbound lanes of US 395 in Adams County, from Ritzville to just north of the Hatton Coulee Rest Area, then resurfacing the highway with Hot Mix Asphalt. The work is only being done in the southbound lanes since the northbound lanes were built with concrete when the highway was widened into the current four-lane freeway during the mid 1990’s.
The job will be underway and completed in 2011.
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Help shape Spokane’s Transportation Vision
The Spokane Regional Transportation Council (SRTC) has been working on a Transportation Vision Project for much of 2010. This project is in place to develop a long-term (30-50 years) regional vision for the future of transportation, as identified by the public, as well as an implementation plan for this vision.
A large part of the Vision process has involved working with the public to identify regional transportation priorities. Those priorities have been integrated into an online game to help determine the makeup of an ideal transportation system. SRTC would like to invite you to play 'A Thousand Visions- A Transportation Planning Game.' Please enter the website address below into your browser or click on the image below to access the game. If you choose to enter your demographic information and your email address on the last page of the game, you will go into a drawing to win a TomTom ® GPS unit.
http://www.spokanetransportationvision.com/