Lane closures on SR 17 this weekend, other projects continue
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 7 months AGO
Traffic will be reduced to one lane this weekend on the bridge over Interstate 90 south of Moses Lake, pictured, while crews resurface the roadway.
CHERYL SCHWEIZER/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
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. | May 17, 2024 3:00 AM
MOSES LAKE — Lane closures are scheduled for the State Route 17 bridge that crosses Interstate 90, starting at 8 p.m. today and lasting through Monday. Crews will be working 24 hours per day, from Friday night through 6 a.m. Monday.
Drivers should plan for some delays, according to a press release from the Washington Department of Transportation.
Construction crews are resurfacing the bridge south of Moses Lake, where SR 17 narrows from four southbound lanes to two, the DOT press release said. Drivers will be able to access the on-ramps and offramps on I-90.
“To complete the work, the contractor will close one half of the bridge at a time,” wrote Sebastian Moraga, DOT communications. “Traffic in both directions will be reduced to a single lane and shifted to the other side of the bridge. When the work is completed on one side, traffic will be shifted over and the contractor will complete the repairs on the other side of the bridge.”
The work is part of a resurfacing project on the four-lane section of SR 17 where it runs through Moses Lake. The work will include three other bridges, two over Parker Horn and the third at SR 17 and Stratford Road.
Construction crews have replaced the ADA-accessible sidewalk ramps, which was the first phase of the project. Total cost is about $7.6 million.
In a resurfacing project — as opposed to repaving — crews shave off and replace the top two to three inches of asphalt. The project started at the south end of Moses Lake and is working its way north to Patton Boulevard. It’s scheduled for completion in July
Crack-sealing projects are going on throughout the Columbia Basin and Central Washington, with the first phase in mid-May to June, resuming in July and finishing in September. Selected sections of regional roads are considered to be high-needs repairs, Moraga wrote.
The DOT’s Strategic Pavement Preservation project involves a mix of repairing existing pavement, repaving some sections and adding rumble strips. The project will begin on State Route 24, from the Othello city limits south for about 15 miles. Drivers should expect flagger-controlled construction zones, with estimated delays of up to 20 minutes during work hours.
State Route 26 east of Othello also is on the list, from the Othello city limits to the intersection at Highway 395. Two sections of State Route 28 will be paved; one section is east of Quincy, starting at Winchester and ending about two miles southwest of Ephrata. The second section of SR 28 is northeast of Soap Lake, from its intersection with Pinto Ridge Road to the intersection with Road W Northeast.
Chip sealing and crack sealing continue on State Route 26 between the I-90 intersection and the Grant-Adams county line. The work on SR 26 will stop temporarily in June and resume in July and August.
The speed limit in the chip-seal zone is 35 miles per hour until the rocks get swept off the road.
“Increased speeds can cause gravel to break loose from a fresh chip seal, cheating the risk of flying rock,” according to the WSDOT website.
Lane closures are scheduled on the Vantage Bridge on Saturday — no, it’s not the start of seven days a week closures for bridge repair. From 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday crews will be repairing damaged concrete barriers and replacing signs across the bridge and for a mile or two in each direction.
One lane of I-90 will be closed each way during working hours. Drivers will be able to access the ramps to SR 26.
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].
ARTICLES BY CHERYL SCHWEIZER
More rain for Cascades, high winds for Columbia Basin this week
LEAVENWORTH — A second strong winter storm is projected to hit Washington this week, bringing heavy rains back to areas that were hard-hit by rain and flooding last week. Steve Bodnar, meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Spokane, said rain is forecast to start Monday, but won’t last as long.
Revised Moses Lake ordinance designed to recover some MLFD costs
MOSES LAKE — An ordinance revision approved by the Moses Lake City Council will allow more consistent billing of insurance companies in cases of emergency response by the Moses Lake Fire Department. In certain circumstances, property owners or vehicle owners may be responsible for paying whatever emergency response costs are not covered by insurance. The revisions passed on a 6-1 council vote Tuesday, with council member Victor Lombardi voting no.
Quincy EP&O levy to go to voters
QUINCY — Quincy School District voters will be asked to accept or reject a four-year educational programs and operations levy in a special election in February. If it’s approved, it would replace the levy approved by voters in 2022. District superintendent Nik Bergman said money raised through the levy accounts for about 16% of the district’s budget. “The state doesn’t fully fund a lot of programs,” Bergman said. “It’s used to fund our highly capable (program) and STEAM enrichment. Some of it is used to fund special education, early learning, the arts, music. We have a music program that is just flourishing right now, and I can connect that to the community support of the levy.”