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Week of Mar. 17, 2008
Keeping up with the ‘chores’ saves money, improves roads
Over the next month, crews will be working on weekends to catch up with small repairs to road shoulders in unincorporated King County. | At home, spring is a time for chores like cleaning out the gutters on your house, removing moss from your driveway, or other pesky projects that can only be put off for so long before they cause a more serious problem.This weekend, the King County Road Services Division will begin catching up with its own list of deferred maintenance projects on roads in the unincorporated areas of the county. Just like any homeowner, the division’s goal is to fix small problems before they become big ones. “Over the past two years, we haven’t had much time to do the smaller projects that are an important part of our roads maintenance program,” said Division Director Linda Dougherty. “We are glad to have this chance to catch up because the consequences of ignoring essential maintenance tasks is not only costly in the long run, but it also affects the safety of the public.” Dougherty said her staff was very busy with storm response over the past two winter seasons, and related repairs stretched into spring. Then, when the dry weather arrived, there was always a long list of paving and major repair projects to complete. That is why the crews are mobilizing to work on their regular days off over the next month to tackle postponed chores around the county.
By keeping on top of restoration work, the county hopes to avoid erosion problems like these. | Maintenance Superintendent Tony Ledbetter said the first priority will be to restore road shoulders before small problems on the side of the road become big headaches on the driving surface.Ledbetter said for the next several weeks the crews will be working on Fridays and Saturdays, depending on the weather, to clean up shoulders in unincorporated areas by removing vegetation, debris, sand from winter snowplowing, and then laying down a new layer of gravel. The restoration work will improve safety for motorists who use the shoulders in an emergency, and for pedestrians walking on the side of road. Water trapped under the vegetation and debris is the biggest concern, because it can erode the shoulder and then begin eating away at the surface of the roadway, which can lead to cracks, potholes, and even sinkholes. The Roads Division is planning on restoring about 300,000 lineal feet of shoulder this year, and the same amount in 2009. “You’d rather repair the shoulder than the whole roadway,” said Ledbetter. “If you don’t take care of these smaller projects when you can, then you can end up with a much worse situation later on.“
You can now check out construction progress for the new Mt. Si Bridge with a gallery of photos on the King County Road Services Division’s Website. Work on the new bridge over the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River near North Bend has been underway since May 2007, and it’s on schedule to be completed by the end of this year. The new bridge is being built next to the existing one, and its alignment will improve visibility for drivers approaching and leaving the bridge. It will also be wider than the existing bridge, with an eight-foot-wide shoulder on the west side and a four-foot shoulder and six-foot sidewalk on the east side. These features will make the bridge safer for vehicles, bicyclists, and pedestrians. It will also be longer than the existing bridge to avoid interfering with the river's natural width.Erection of the new steel truss bridge has been completed via the use of a temporary work trestle. Two concrete girder approach spans have also been built. The concrete deck work for the truss and approach spans should be completed in April. Many other features including roadway fill and drainage construction are ongoing with final asphalt and pavement striping later this summer. The new bridge and approaches are anticipated to be open in the fall of 2008, and old bridge removed soon after. |
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Green Festival coming to King County Discover that “It’s Easy Being Green” at King County’s educational pavilion during the upcoming Seattle Green Festival, April 12-13, at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center in downtown Seattle. Featuring special discounts and incentives for green products, plus tips on connecting to the many resources that King County offers, the pavilion is just one of the 300-plus exhibits scheduled for the big event. | Subscribe to DOT DashSign-up to receive an e-mail text version of "Transportation Today," along with other significant DOT news by sending an e-mail to us with subscribe King County DOT Dash in the subject line.
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