Road projects scheduled for Highway 17 next week
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 5 years, 1 month AGO
A car traverses the railroad crossing on state Route 17 just south of Basic American Foods. Construction crews will be upgrading the crossing next week, which will require closing the road for four days beginning March 5.
Cheryl Schweizer/Columbia Basin Herald
A car traverses the railroad crossing on state Route 17 just south of Basic American Foods. The crossing, and SR-17, will be closed for four days beginning March 5.
A car crosses the railroad tracks near Basic American Foods south of Moses Lake. The railroad crossing, and State Route 17, will be closed for three days beginning March 5 so construction crews can install upgrades.
Senior Reporter Cheryl Schweizer is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience serving small communities in the Pacific Northwest. She began her post-high-school education at Treasure Valley Community College and enerned her journalism degree at Oregon State University. After working for multiple publications, she has settled down at the Columbia Basin Herald and has been a staple of the newsroom for more than a decade. Schweizer’s dedication to her communities and profession has earned her the nickname “The Baroness of Bylines.” She covers a variety of beats including health, business and various municipalities. | February 26, 2021 1:00 AM
MOSES LAKE — Two road repair projects on state Route 17, south of Moses Lake, will mean traffic delays beginning Monday.
One of the projects, upgrades to the railroad crossing near Basic American Foods, will close the road March 5 and keep it closed through March 8.
Lauren Loebsack, communications manager for the north central region of the Washington Department of Transportation, said both projects will start Monday, but aren’t coordinated otherwise.
“Unfortunately, these are separate projects with separate contractors,” Loebsack said. “Very likely you’re going to encounter two work zones.”
Delays should last about 10 minutes at each site, she added.
One project involves sealing cracks from milepost 43 to milepost 51. That project starts just south of the intersection with Interstate 90, where state Route 17 narrows from four lanes to two. It extends to the intersection with Road 5 Southeast.
Work hours for the chip-sealing project will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, Loebsack said.
“We hope that starting at 8 a.m. will allow the morning commuters to get where they need to go,” she said.
Roads through the construction zone that connect with state Route 17 will have traffic control while work is in the immediate vicinity. For example, traffic at Road M Southeast would be controlled by flaggers while the construction crews were working around it, but not when they’re working further north or south, Loebsack said.
The second project will involve improvements at the railroad crossing at Road M Southeast, just south of Basic American Foods.
A lane will be added so vehicles required to stop at railroad crossings can pull out of the regular lane of traffic, Loebsack said. A new railroad crossing with flashing lights and crossing gates will be installed. The project also includes new signs and pavement markings.
Work on the railroad crossing also begins Monday, but working hours will be from 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
State Route 17 will be closed entirely from 6 a.m. March 5 to 6 p.m. March 8 at the railroad crossing, Loebsack said. A detour will be available via Road M Southeast and state Route 262.
“This is the usual detour route when we need to close this area,” Loebsack said.
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