Quincy roundabout construction starts Monday
Construction begins Monday on a new roundabout at the intersection of White Trail Road and State Route 28. The conceptual drawing is pictured.
COURTESY IMAGE/WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
QUINCY — White Trail Road will be closed at its intersection with State Route 28 about eight miles west of Quincy, beginning today. Construction crews will be installing a roundabout at the intersection.
The new roundabout will be a single lane in each direction, while the total project cost was estimated at about $2.8 million.
Miguel Castillo of WSDOT, the project engineer, said SR 28 will be what he called the “preferred route” during construction.
“Traffic will be allowed to travel east (and) west on 28,” he said.
White Trail Road, or Road 5 NW, is used by drivers looking to bypass the intersection at SR 28 and SR 281 in Quincy. Castillo said drivers will be directed through Quincy during construction.
Closure signs will be installed at the intersection of White Trail Road and SR 281, Castillo said, warning that White Trail Road is closed at the SR 28 intersection. But there are always drivers that don’t see the signs, he said.
“As (drivers) get closer to the intersection of White Trail and 28 there will be barriers,” Castillo said.
The project is scheduled to take about two and a half months.
“I would expect we are done with this by the second week in July,” he said. “We go a lot faster when we’re able to close side roads.”
The work will be done in four stages, with the first phase focusing on widening the westbound lane of SR 28. That’s projected to take seven to 10 days, he said.
“That work will be done at night,” he said, and traffic will be controlled by flaggers.
Once that’s done, work will start on the westbound lane.
“The westbound lane will be closed,” he said. Since vehicles going in both directions will be using the eastbound lane, traffic will be controlled with a signal at each end of the construction zone.
“You’ll get a signal stopping you,” he said. “We’ll time those signals.”
Once work in the westbound lane is finished, construction crews will switch to the eastbound lane, and the same signal system will be used, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
White Trail Road will be open during the final phase of construction.
“In stage four the road is fully operational,” Castillo said.
He recommended that drivers plan their travel time to take the project into account.
“Add 20 minutes to your trip,” he said.
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.