Date:  Friday, April 24, 2009

Contact: Dave Chesson, WSDOT Communications 360-757-5970

• North Cascades Highway to open Friday evening
• Plan ahead for weeklong closure of College Way/Riverside Drive intersection
• Busy week ahead on SR 20 in Burlington
• More closures next week north of Deception Pass
• More than one reason to join the green commute
• WSDOT goes orange for work zone safety

North Cascades Highway to open Friday evening

The SR 20 North Cascades Highway will open to traffic at 8 p.m. Friday, April 24, a full week earlier than anticipated. Our maintenance crews began work four weeks ago clearing avalanche chutes and snow from the mountain highway that closed to traffic for the winter on Dec. 11.

East and west side crews met at Washington Pass on Wednesday. On Thursday, crews were widening and cutting safety pull-out areas. When the gates swing open, drivers should find the road conditions bare and dry or bare and wet across the entire route. The weather forecast calls for temperatures in the mid 40s, clouds and a freezing level around 4,500 feet. There is a possibility of some rain forecast Saturday through Monday.

Updates and photos of the annual spring reopening are posted on the WSDOT SR 20 web page, www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/passes/northcascades.


Plan ahead for weeklong closure of College Way/Riverside Drive intersection

If you regularly use the College Way (SR 538)/Riverside Drive intersection in Mount Vernon, you'll want to plan ahead for construction. Crews will completely close the intersection for one week to replace the asphalt with longer-lasting concrete.

The closure will start at 9 p.m. Sunday, May 3, and crews will reopen the intersection by 6 a.m. Monday, May 11. This work is weather-dependent.

We'll have detour signs posted to direct you around the closure. Access to businesses will remain open. You can check out the detour route map and business access map on our Flickr site.


Busy week ahead on SR 20 in Burlington

Crews will continue paving next week at a fast and furious pace on SR 20. Of course, you can walk faster than they can pave and they have miles of paving to complete, so you should expect several more weeks of paving on SR 20. It also means we will have some more SR 20 lane closures Monday through Thursday, and an I-5 ramp closure Thursday.

• Monday, April 27, through Thursday, April 30, from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. – Crews will close a lane of SR 20 west of I-5 to continue paving the final layer of asphalt. Flaggers will direct you through the construction zone. Expect minor delays.
 
• Thursday, April 30, from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. – Crews will close the northbound I-5 off-ramp to grind and prep the roadway for paving that will happen the following Monday night (May 4).


More closures next week north of Deception Pass

It’s hard work in a tough location on SR 20 near Quiet Cove. But crews are working as quickly as they safely can to complete the widening and lowering of the highway, just south of the Miller/Gibralter Road intersection. The roadway is changing from week to week, so please continue to use caution, check your speed, and watch for crews as well as neighbors pulling out of their driveways in the vicinity of this work.

• Monday, April 27, from 7:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. – Crews will close one lane of SR 20 to pave the shoulder from Campbell Lake Road to Miller Road.

• Wednesday, April 29 and Thursday, April 30, from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. – Crews will close SR 20 between the north and south ends of Miller Road. Traffic will be detoured down Miller Road with a pilot car. The road and detour route will be closed for approximately 15 minutes right around 8 p.m., and then the detour route will be opened. Heaviest delays continue to be between 8 and 10 p.m.


More than one reason to join the green commute

As you celebrate our planet this week, consider “greening” up your commute. If reducing your carbon footprint isn't enough to excite you, think about the time and money you could save.

The auto club calculates that the cost of driving averages more than $5,700 per year, including nearly $3,460 in depreciation and more than $900 for insurance. Fuel to drive 15,000 miles in a year would cost around $1,500.

If this seems like a lot, we have suggestions for keeping you and your pocketbook in great shape - try walking or bicycling to work. Not the athletic type? Relax, ride the bus or share a ride and skip the costs of parking and gas. Need more ideas and information? Check out http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/partners/commute/ or ask your Employee Transportation Coordinator.


WSDOT goes orange for work zone safety

WSDOT has gone code orange for Work Zone Safety Awareness Week (April 20-24). We’re honoring those who lost their lives in work zones during the annual Work Zone Memorial ceremony April 23. At least 59 people died in more than 10,500 work zone collisions reported between 2000 and 2008.

One of the newest ways WSDOT is making work zones safer is by helping the State Patrol crack down on speeders with automated traffic safety cameras. Speed-detection radar triggers the cameras to capture the license plates of vehicles speeding through work zones. The vehicle’s registered owner then can be cited.

So if you drive through a work zone, “Give ‘em a brake”, and remember that it takes approximately 200 feet to stop your car at 60 mph.

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