Date:
Friday, January 21, 2005
Contact:
Leon Winger, Kelso Area Engineer, 360-442-1341
Janelle Ward, Public Information Officer, 360-905-2057
NASELLE - A project to realign a substandard curve on US 101 east of the Astoria-Megler Bridge in Pacific County will begin construction on January 31, announced the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT). WSDOT recently awarded the contract for the curve realignment portion of the project to Ostrander Rock & Construction Co. Inc., of Longview, WA who submitted the winning bid of $1,119,760.
This project will shift the existing curve 275 feet north of its current alignment, which will help improve safety on this section of US 101. The realignment project also will allow for expansion of Station Camp Park on the south side of the highway, and is being designed and built in coordination with the park project. Once complete, the nine-acre riverfront Station Camp Park will serve as an important historical stop along the Lewis and Clark Trail. For more information about the park, please visit this Web page: www.wshs.org/wshm/lewisandclark/station-camp-park.htm.
The Washington State Historical Society, WSDOT, the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission and the National Parks Service are all partnering to help complete the realignment and park expansion project, with the Washington State Historical Society taking the lead. A joint highway and park expansion groundbreaking ceremony will occur later this spring. More information about this ceremony will be released once a date and time are known.
As part of the realignment project, crews also will install a drainage system and guardrail, and conduct paving and other work. Construction on this project will occur during the day, Mondays through Fridays with minimal impacts to the traveling public. Most of the work will occur off-site with the exception of a culvert installation and the final installation of the new roadway. In those instances, there will be single lane closures with flaggers and up to 20-minute delays. Work activities along the shoreline will be suspended from mid-May to mid-June due to environmental regulations that prohibit construction from occurring along the shoreline during juvenile salmon migrating season. There will be no lane closures on holidays or after 12 p.m. on the day before a holiday. Weather permitting, the project will be completed by the end of June 2005.
Advance warning signs will be placed ahead of the construction area, and motorists are asked to please slow down and use caution when driving through the work zone. It is more likely that a motorist will be killed in a highway work zone accident than a construction or maintenance employee. In Washington, 12 motorists are killed for every WSDOT employee killed and 214 motorists are injured for every WSDOT employee injured. In addition, all traffic law violation fines are doubled inside a work zone when workers are present (RCW 46.61.527).
For weekly updates on this and all other state construction-related impacts in the region, please visit the WSDOT Southwest Region Weekly Travel Advisory Web page: www.wsdot.wa.gov/regions/southwest/Construction/. It is updated every Friday for the following week's impacts. For more information about the US 101 Station Camp realignment project, please call WSDOT's Kelso Area Engineering Office toll free at: 1-800-545-1393.
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