Work on Vantage Bridge expands to seven days per week May 31

MOSES LAKE — It being a holiday weekend - and bringing with it a lot of traffic - most road projects will be taking a break for Memorial Day, with many resuming Tuesday. 

That includes the resurfacing of State Route 17 through Moses Lake, and possibly work on the SR 17 bridge at Stratford Road the weekend of May 31. The resurfacing tentatively has been scheduled for that date, although it could be subject to change. 

That means the bridge will be closed over that weekend, through Monday morning. Detour routes will be available and will have signs during each bridge closure.

Crews will resurface the four-lane section of SR 17 where it runs through Moses Lake, starting at Interstate 90 at the south end of town and working north to the intersection of SR 17 and Patton Boulevard. Crews resurfaced the bridge at I-90 last weekend, and drivers in the project area know crews have removed some layers of pavement. 

“Travelers should plan for single-lane closures, flagger-directed traffic and short-term closures of side road connections to SR 17, as well of the ramps to connect I-90 to SR 17,” wrote Sebastian Moraga, public information specialist for the Washington Department of Transportation, in an earlier press release. 

Drivers using the Vantage Bridge also should be prepared for changes the weekend of May 31, when the project goes from five days a week to seven.

Crews are working to replace the bridge deck, a project that is projected to take four construction seasons. They began work in March on a Monday through Friday schedule. But next week that converts to seven days a week, with exceptions for the week of July 1 through 8 and Labor Day weekend. For the rest of the summer and early fall drivers should be prepared for one-lane routes across the bridge during working hours.

The bridge will have one lane traffic in each direction from the end of May to the end of the construction season in early October. Washington Department of Transportation officials recommended drivers take that into account when they’re going places, including concerts at the Gorge Amphitheater. 

Megan Lott, public information officer for the DOT’s South Central region, said in an earlier interview construction conditions are expected to cause some slowdowns.

“It’s going to be pretty narrow through there,” Lott said of the bridge construction zone. “So we’re going to be reducing the speed limit to 40 miles per hour.”

The narrow lanes and slower speeds are expected to slow traffic on the approaches to the bridge - not stop it, but slow it down considerably. Lott said DOT engineers don’t anticipate major traffic delays during the week; it’s the weekends that are expected to cause delays, possibly up to 90 minutes or longer.

There are other routes from the east side to the west side of the state, but Lott said roadwork may be scheduled on those too. Drivers are encouraged to check the DOT’s real-time travel map to see which routes are subject to delays.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.