Two passing lane projects scheduled this summer along U.S. Highway 101 have been funded as part of a state plan to mitigate the effects of closing the Hood Canal Bridge in May-June 2009.
One will add a 1.4-mile truck climbing lane for westbound traffic west of Blyn at Dean Creek.
The other will expand the highway about three-quarters of a mile east of Sequim Bay near Chicken Coop Creek from two lanes to four lanes to provide a passing lane in each direction.
The two projects, estimated to total $4.5 million, are scheduled to go out to bid in May 2008, with construction expected during the summer.
In 2009, a $3.2 million project is planned to add a westbound truck climbing lane from Dawley Road to the Old Blyn Highway.
No project timelines have been released yet.
The state Department of Transportation is replacing the east half of the bridge connecting Jefferson and Kitsap counties, and retrofitting its west half in a project estimated in February 2006 to cost $471 million.
Replacing the bridge’s east half will include closing the bridge for up to two months in 2009 so that the new anchors and pontoons can be floated into place.
Project engineer Mel Hitzke from Transportation’s Olympia office said projects funded as mitigation measures are intended to keep traffic moving during the two month closure of the bridge.
“The purpose is to get them done so they don’t hold up traffic during the float-in,” Hitzke said.
“So we pushed ahead the passing lanes [from 2009].
“We’re prepared to go to bid. The permits are the only thing holding us up,” he said.
The truck climbing lane has another purpose as well, Hitzke said.
“It’s also a safety project,” he said.
“People are trying to pass there, and they don’t always have opportunities. So people are getting frustrated and want to pass.”
The original plan was to do the two passing lane projects and the truck climbing lane project all at once, he said.
But that decision was changed because if one wasn’t completed by the end of the construction season, it would have to sit uncompleted until the next year, Hitzke said.
