Date:  Thursday, February 21, 2008

Contact: Dave Chesson, WSDOT Communications, 360-757-5970 (Burlington) 
Dave Crisman, Project Engineer, 360-428-1593 (Mount Vernon)

CLINTON – The south end of SR 525 on Whidbey Island should have a fresh coat of asphalt before summer. Krieg Construction Inc. of Oak Harbor was awarded the project this week to repave about a half a mile of the highway and make safety improvements from the Clinton ferry terminal to Bob Galbreath Road.

Though the details are still being finalized, WSDOT expects that the contractor will begin work in the spring, with crews working during the day and at night. As with any highway project, there will be some delays for drivers, but WSDOT will work closely with the contractor to minimize those delays, especially during peak ferry hours of operation.

Repaving the road extends the life of the roadway, reducing construction delays and costs that are necessary when a road deteriorates and needs to be rebuilt.

“You don’t want to wait until your roof starts leaking and causes damage to your house to put on new shingles,” said Project Engineer Dave Crisman. “It’s the same concept here. Just like new shingles will protect your house, a new coat of asphalt will protect an expensive roadway, minimizing future costs and delays.”

Safety improvements include replacing guardrail and signs, and bringing some of the sidewalk ends up to code with ramped corners to make them accessible to people with disabilities.

Krieg Construction was awarded the project after submitting the lowest bid of $599,977.

Drivers that use the ferry terminal regularly are advised to join the ferries e-mail update list, which will provide updates on the project when it affects ferry traffic. You can sign up for this and other e-mail updates by going to: www.wsdot.wa.gov/Northwest/EmailUpdates.

More details about the project are available on the project Web page: www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/SR525/ClintonFerryPaving.

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