ROAD REPORT: Soap Lake streets projects underway

SOAP LAKE — Curbs and gutters are going in along a section of Soap Lake streets that provide access to East Beach Park. The curbs and sidewalks are part of an upgrade to the streets next to the park, which includes paving sections of First Avenue Northeast and North Canna Street. 

While construction crews poured curbs and compacted gravel next to the park, other crews were tearing up sections of West Main Avenue in Soap Lake. The street will be repaved between South Ginkgo and South Cherry streets. Sidewalks will be replaced along the north side of Main Avenue. 

Marina Way is north of East Main Avenue and dead-ends in a parking lot next to the park. That section will be paved, along with First Avenue Northeast to the intersection with North Daisy Street (State Route 17). Both streets also will be finished with curbs and sidewalks.  

A third Soap Lake project begins later this month; construction crews will be adding a layer of scrub seal to some streets. Mayor Alan DuPay said in an earlier interview that it’s an extensive project, with streets throughout town getting an overlay. 

Scrub seal is similar to chip seal but includes a step to push the rock and tar material into existing cracks. Scrub sealing is designed to extend the life of streets longer than chip seal, DuPuy said. Streets were evaluated to determine if they qualified for a scrub seal coat, since some are in such poor condition they will require rebuilding. 

A project to stabilize the rock slope on a section of SR 17 north of Soap Lake is entering the home stretch. The project began in February and is scheduled for completion by September. Construction crews have been pulling down loose rocks and bolting others that could work loose to more stable rocks behind them. When that’s done a steel mesh curtain will be installed over the cliff to keep rocks that fall from bouncing into the road.  

Traffic is subject to 20-minute delays through the project zone. Drivers are stopped for 20 minutes, traffic is let through in one direction, then the other direction, then traffic is stopped for 20 minutes. Loads more than 12 feet wide are prohibited in the construction zone during work hours. There are no traffic restrictions before and after work hours. 

State roads throughout Grant and Adams counties are part of extensive crack-sealing, pavement repair and repaving projects. Crews have been repaving, crack-sealing, and repairing sections of all major state routes, most recently — earlier this week, actually — State Route 26 between Interstate 90 and Othello. Depending on the project, that work should be completed sometime between late August and mid-September. 

Travelers looking to drive across the North Cascade Highway should be prepared for delays next Tuesday and Wednesday as crews make repairs near Tonasket. Crews will be repaving a four-mile section of the highway from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day. Drivers will encounter flagger-controlled traffic and a pilot car.  

The work began in the spring, stopped during June and resumed in late July. It’s scheduled to be completed in late August. 

One lane of the Vantage Bridge is still closed Monday through Friday, as construction crews work to replace the old bridge deck. Traffic is restricted to one lane during the week, and there are load restrictions in place. Both lanes are open on weekends, which will continue through Labor Day weekend. 

Both lanes will be open over Labor Day, but after Labor Day one lane will be closed seven days per week, 24 hours a day. Those restrictions will be in place through the end of the construction season in October. 

    Concrete curbs were going in along Marina Way in Soap Lake on Thursday, part of a project to upgrade roads around East Beach Park.
  

    A construction worker splashes water on a still-drying concrete curb.