MOSES LAKE — Fall is officially here – chilly mornings, shorter days, pumpkin spice lattes, all the things. With fall’s arrival, the end of road construction season is in sight, but there are still projects underway throughout the Columbia Basin. 

The construction equipment spreading oil and gravel on the streets in downtown Moses Lake has almost finished its job. The streets in downtown Moses Lake, East Hill Avenue and East Wheeler Avenue all have a new surface. Crews have been applying the final layer of oil, known as fog seal, Wednesday and Thursday.  

That’s almost but not quite the last step of the project. Once the fog seal layer cures, a process that will take about two weeks, according to city engineers, the streets will be restriped with reconfigured lanes. 

Streets that previously had two lanes in each direction will be reconfigured to one lane in each direction with a turn lane in the middle. The only exception is Wheeler Road east of State Route 17, where Moses Lake City Council members voted to keep two lanes in each direction. Some street sections in the project area will have angled parking where it didn’t exist previously.  

The total project cost for the Moses Lake street project is about $1.4 million. 

Othello-area delays 

A strike that affected Eastern Washington delayed, among other projects, a new roundabout at the intersection of South First Avenue and State Route 26 in Othello. Sebastian Moraga, communications consultant for the Washington Department of Transportation North Central Region, said the Othello project is about two to three weeks behind schedule.  

Work hours are 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday through mid-October, but traffic restrictions remain in place 24/7. Drivers should be prepared for temporary traffic signals and one-way alternating traffic through the intersection. 

The total project cost for the projects is about $3.2 million.   

I-90 paving  

The new pavement is down on the first phase of a repaving project on Interstate 90, but there’s still work going on, so drivers should plan for reduced speeds in the work zone and possibly some delays.  

Construction crews have repaved eastbound lanes between the Dodson Road exit and Moses Lake, and eastbound and westbound lanes from the Mae Valley exit to Road O Northeast.  

“(Construction crews) are taking care of post-paving work, including guideposts, rumble strips, pavement markings, fog seal and barrier delineators,” Moraga said. “It will probably go on until early October.”  

The second phase of the project starts next spring, and will repave I-90 between the George exit and the Vantage Bridge. Total cost for both phases is about $22 million. 

Vantage resurfacing  

Work on the second year of the four-year project to repair the Vantage Bridge deck will continue through the end of the construction season in October.  

The bridge is reduced to one lane in each direction 24/7, with a speed limit of 45 miles per hour in the work zone. Drivers should plan for delays, especially on weekends, but delays have occurred on weekdays as well. Total project cost is about $79 million over the four years.  

    Rock is applied to West Third Avenue as part of the resurfacing project.