Long-awaited U.S. 101 widening project to start next summer

PORT ANGELES — Safety improvements to U.S. Highway 101 between Port Angeles and Sequim will require short-term closures of county roads over the next two summers, a state Department of Transportation official told Clallam County commissioners Monday.

Steve Fuchs, project manager and engineer, said temporary closures will affect six county roads that bisect a 3.5-mile stretch of highway between Kitchen-Dick and Shore roads.

The long-planned, $90 million highway-widening project will add two lanes to the busy thoroughfare and include a 32-foot median that will separate east and westbound traffic to reduce the potential for head-on wrecks.

The project will include the construction of two bridges over McDonald Creek, one for each direction of travel.

“They’ll start work there this winter, whether it be December or January,” Fuchs said in a project update.

“If everything goes as planned, and they work on that bridge and they get it built by midsummer, the goal here is that they would switch traffic — 101 traffic — over onto the new bridge and then demolish the existing bridge and start on that second bridge.”

The longest of the county road closures will be a two-week shutdown of Sherburne Road where it merges with the highway.

Crews will raise the level of the road by 8 feet to align it with the state highway grade.

“We think that the closure of Sherburne Road is going to occur this coming summer of 2013,” Fuchs said.

Six-day closures are planned for Kitchen-Dick and Dryke roads for grade modifications and paving.

“There’s a good chance that the closure for Kitchen-Dick Road will also occur next summer, the summer of 2013, as they’re working on that,” Fuchs said.

“Beyond that, it’s really hard for me to estimate if the others will actually close in the summer of 2013, or if they’ll be the following year.”

Contractors’ schedules and other outside factors will determine the exact dates of the shutdowns.

The Department of Transportation requested a three-day closure for Shore Road for drainage work and a one-day closure for paving.

One-day closures are also planned for North Barr and Kirk roads.

Signs listing alternates routes will be posted at least one week prior to the closures.

County roads with no alternate routes, such as South Barr and Pierson roads, will not shut down.

At no point in the two-year project will U.S. Highway close.

Highway traffic will be re-routed to a new surface south of the existing highway on the west end, and to the north of the existing highway on the east.

When that happens, the existing grade, including the drainage crown and rumble strip, will be replaced.

“We’ve also got some big culvert replacements going on down here, east and west of McDonald Creek,” Fuchs added.

Last March, Fuchs announced that the project had been delayed by six months because of right-of-way acquisition.

Fuchs on Monday said the work should be done in October 2014.

“It’s definitely a two-season job,” he said.

Once completed, the highway will have a right-turn-in, right-turn-out configuration with six dedicated U-turns like the existing U-turn east of Deer Park Road.

County Engineer Ross Tyler said the county is working closely with the state on the project.

“We usually know when we’re going to close the road,” Tyler told commissioners.

“In this particular case, though, they don’t know exactly until they get their contract awarded and they get the time schedules.

“They need assurances from the Board (of County Commissioners) that we’ll allow, when the time comes, these roads to be closed.”

Commissioners did not object to the request.

After the meeting, Tyler said the temporary closures will expedite the project.

“They’ll get in, make the necessary modifications to the intersections, and get out,” Tyler said.

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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.