Date:  Friday, June 27, 2008

Contact: Contact: Greg Phipps, WSDOT Communications, 206-440-4702

BLACK DIAMOND – WSDOT contractors will begin emergency repair work on State Route 169 a day earlier than planned in an effort to get in, get the work done, and get out before the July Fourth holiday weekend.

• Contractor crews will close SR 169 at Roberts Drive in Black Diamond and SE 400th Street north of Enumclaw at 5 a.m., Sunday, June 29.
• The road will remain closed to all vehicles through 10 p.m. Thursday, July 3.
• All vehicles must take the signed detour.

Significant movement in the landslide at the south end of the Kummer bridge prompted WSDOT geotechnical engineers to order the bridge closed earlier this week. Crews drilled core samples to assess the stability of the entire roadbed. WSDOT experts determined the weakness was limited to the soil under the northbound lane and could be temporarily fixed using specialized slope-stabilizing nails. Traffic has been limited to the southbound lane this week as WSDOT worked to develop the emergency repair plan.

Emergency repair work begins Sunday

On Sunday, June 29, crews working for DBM Contractors will close the road to put a 30-ton crane and other equipment in place. This crane and an attached drill rig will help drive in 34 specialized stability nails at a rate of one nail per hour. Geotechnical engineers have marked the locations with white X’s across the unstable slope already. Crews working during daylight hours plan to finish the soil nail installation by Thursday at 10 p.m. If the work is not complete, the road will reopen to one lane alternating in each direction through Sunday, July 6 and work will resume on July 7.

Once this work is complete, crews will open both north and southbound lanes to all vehicles with the exception of over weight and over width vehicles.

Detours

During the full bridge closure, all vehicles must use the signed detour which adds four miles to the trip and takes between five and 10 minutes. Drivers should budget this extra time into their travel plans.

Northbound drivers will travel west on SE 400th Street to 236th Avenue SE. Drivers will go right at 218th Place SE to connect to Auburn-Black Diamond Road. This road reconnects with SR 169.
Southbound drivers will take Auburn-Black Diamond Road (Roberts Drive)) to 218th Place SE. This road turns into 212th Avenue SE. Drivers will turn left at SE 400th Street SE to reconnect to SR 169.
WSDOT cannot allow any emergency vehicles through the work zone as the large crane’s outriggers take two lanes.
Local traffic may access the area inside the closure points, but may not use the bridge.

Long-term repair plan

While next week’s repair stabilizes the road under the northbound lanes, it does not solve the bigger problem of the landslide movement. WSDOT engineers are working on a plan to build a retaining wall parallel to the bridge to slow the landslide.

This work could begin as early as September and must be completed by mid-November due to heavy fall rains.

WSDOT engineers have not developed a firm price tag for this emergency work.

Drivers can find more information at www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/SR169/GreenRiverRepair/. We will post regular updates in the yellow box here.

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