Week of Jun. 23, 2008

County road construction focuses on safety, preservation

"Due to aging infrastructure, it is critical that we take care of our current system to not lose parts of the system," said Road Services Division Director Linda Dougherty. "Our first priority is always to make sure our roads and bridges are safe and fully functional."

The bulk of this year’s maintenance work involves repairing or replacing up to 100 under-roadway culverts. These culverts range in size from 12-inches in diameter to 20-feet wide. Some carry small streams and tributaries under the roads, while others are part of the county’s drainage network. The larger ones also often provide upstream passage for native species of fish.

But, the one thing these culverts all have in common is they provide important protection for the roadway above. If a culvert begins to deteriorate or leak, it can cause the roadway to buckle, crack, or even fail. A failing culvert can also cause erosion to the supporting shoulders of the road.

Since most of the larger culvert projects are located in or near fish habitat areas, the repair and replacement work must be completed within a three to four month “fish window” to avoid disrupting the spawning seasons. It varies by species, so some of the culvert work has already begun while other projects won’t start until August.

One of the bigger projects of the summer is being done this week on the Kent-Black Diamond Road, south of Covington where a very deep drainage culvert must be replaced. The old concrete pipe is full of tree roots and the constricted flow has caused the culvert to start collapsing. The busy road above is a key arterial for southeast King County, so the Roads Division wants to replace the culvert before it endangers the roadway.

Other large culvert projects that will be completed this summer include work on Kanaskat-Kangley Road near Maple Valley, Kelly Road near Duvall, and West Snoqualmie Valley Road Northeast east of Woodinville.

The long-term health of county bridges is another key concern for the Roads Division. The county recently opened a new Tolt Bridge west of Carnation, and is completing work on a replacement of the Mt. Si Bridge near North Bend. Those large bridges are very visible to the public, but dozens of short-span bridges are equally important when it comes to preserving the transportation network in unincorporated King County.

This summer, the Road Division plans to begin work on replacing three to four short-span bridges in the lower Snoqualmie Valley. Construction is expected to start in late July or early August and proceed through the middle of October.

Paving is part of the division’s warm-weather schedule every year. King County has more than 1,800 miles of roadways to maintain. The asphalt road surface wears out over time due to use, age and weather. Overlaying roads restores this surface and protects the underlying roadbed from compaction and erosion, which extends its life, and is much more cost effective than having to rebuild a road.

Roads that need repaving are grouped together by location to minimize costs and to allow for efficient and cost-effective dispatch of crews. This summer, the division plans to pave approximately 45 miles of roadway. The overlay work begins this week in South King County in the Maple Valley and Hobart areas.. Work in unincorporated areas north of Interstate 90 will begin in a few weeks.

In addition to the paving, culvert replacements, and bridge work, the division continues to leverage technology to maximize existing road capacity at the lowest cost. Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) projects rely on technology to coordinate traffic signal timing to ease traffic flow and reduce congestion. Throughout 2008, the division is partnering with other jurisdictions to provide congestion relief along entire corridors to minimize traffic bottlenecks and reduce carbon emissions.

Work has already begun on the ITS project along Avondale Road and Novelty Hill Road east of Redmond. Design work is also underway on three more ITS projects: Juanita-Woodinville Way near Northeast 160th Street; 100th Avenue Northeast in Juanita; and South 277th Street near Kent.

Redmond Park-and-Ride closes for construction Metro’s Redmond Park-and-Ride on Northeast 83rd Street in downtown Redmond will close completely late Thursday evening, June 26 to make way for a new park-and-ride garage. The closure of the lot will not affect bus service at the nearby Redmond Transit Center. During construction, parking is available two blocks away in a temporary surface lot near the City Hall Campus Garage. There are also 178 temporary spaces close to the Bear Creek Park-and-Ride, which is served by several of the same bus routes that stop at the Redmond Transit Center. Parking at the transit center will return to former levels in Spring 2009, when the new garage opens. Get an up-close look at Metro’s new hybrid buses! If you haven’t had a chance to ride one of Metro’s new hybrid buses, you can at least get a feel for it by checking out this latest video from the King County Department of Transportation.   Watch the video

Lemmon tops the crop at Metroadeo From left to right: Harold Lemmon, Chai Kunjara, and Daniel McKinney. Metro driver Harold Lemmon was the winner in last Saturday’s 32nd Annual Metroadeo competition. The veteran driver from Atlantic Base was tops in a field of about 40 Metro drivers, followed by Chai Kunjara from Ryerson Base and Daniel McKinney from Central Base. Lemmon now advances to represent Metro in the state roadeo in September. Other awards went to: Tom Ponischil, Central, first place maverick operator; Ryan Stringfellow, North vehicle maintenance, first place maverick non-operator; Eric Dumadag, Ryerson, best score first-time competitor; and Trevor Hoit, Central, most-improved roadeo score.

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