Some road projects done, others still in progress

VANTAGE — At midsummer, many road construction projects are winding down, done or almost done, while longer-term projects are in high gear.  

Many of the Grant County projects are nearing completion or are complete, including work on a seven-mile section of State Route 17 through Moses Lake and repairs to the State Route 282 overpass at the entrance to Ephrata. Repairs to State Route 26 between the Vantage Bridge and the Highway 395 intersection are nearing completion as well. 

Work continues on SR 17 north of Soap Lake; crews are removing loose rock from the cliff face, bolting rocks to the rocks behind them for stability and adding nets 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. 

One lane is closed in each direction at the Vantage Bridge Monday through Friday as crews continue to work on a four-year project to rebuild the bridge deck. Megan Lott, public information officer for the Washington Department of Transportation South Central region, said a lot of the work in this phase of the project is going on out of sight. 

“(Construction crews) are building an access bridge under the bridge,” Lott said.  

That will provide a platform for crews when they begin to remove the sections of the bridge deck and replace them with precast concrete panels. Precast concrete speeds up the process, Lott said, since crews don’t have to wait for them to dry.  

Crews are also making repairs to the columns and piers that help support the bridge, which dates to 1962 and was last overhauled in 1982. Temporary steel columns are being added for extra support as the old bridge panels are removed and the new ones installed.  

That work will begin after Labor Day; both lanes of the bridge will be open in each direction for Labor Day weekend. After Labor Day, one lane of the bridge 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.  

Lott said that’s so travelers can be routed to avoid the work zones as the panels are installed.

“People will be playing zig-zag across the bridge,” she said. 

Every city has local road projects over the summer, and some of those are nearing completion too. Quincy drivers already know it, but the work is complete on a one-block section of Third Avenue Southwest between West Division Street and B Street Southwest. Work also is almost complete on Sixth Avenue Northeast, which was widened. 

A third project, a complete rebuild of a section of Second Avenue Southeast, is in the final stages of design. Quincy Public Works Director Carl Worley said a section of the design required some revisions. 

Second Avenue Southeast will be repaved and have new sidewalks, curbs and gutters due to damage from tree roots, Worley said. The rebuild includes the section next to Pioneer Elementary, from J Street Southeast to Marginal Way.