PORT ANGELES – Daytime delays are likely on U.S. Highway 101 around Morse Creek beginning Wednesday.
Active Construction Inc. crews working for the state Department of Transportation will close one lane in both directions of 101 during weekday daytime hours to allow freshly poured median curbs and gutters to cure.
There may be times when there is little to no work occurring during the curing process, DOT said.
Daytime work will last through mid-summer. Overnight lane closures for construction at Morse Creek will continue through the fall.
No lane closures are scheduled over holidays or weekends.
In the $3.6 million project, crews are constructing a “boulevard-style” solution to slowing travelers, along with implementing a targeted speed limit reduction.
Lanes will be narrowed from 12 feet to 11 feet, and shoulders will be shaved from 8 feet to 5 feet.
A mile-long, landscaped median with a 6-inch curb will be built from the top of the bend at East Kolonels Way near the Walmart exit east to the Deer Park exit off Highway 101.
It will break at the bottom of the hill at Morse Creek where Cottonwood Lane exits Highway 101 to the south and Strait View Drive exits to the north before continuing to Deer Park Loop.
The project was sparked by the June 21, 2018, traffic fatality of 19-year-old Sequim resident Brooke “Brookie” Bedinger.
Her eastbound motorcycle careened out of control and into the oncoming lane where Highway 101 crimps sharply at the bottom of the hilly dip at Morse Creek.
More than 250 crashes have occurred at the curve between 2007 and 2019, including at least four fatal crashes, according to the State Patrol.
Bedinger’s was among seven motorcycle crashes in five years.
For more information, see www.wsdot.wa.gov/projects/us101/morse-creek/home.
