Date:  Thursday, April 01, 2010

Contact: Dustin Terpening, Communications, 360-757-5997 (Burlington)
Chris Damitio, Project Engineer, 360-788-7403 (Bellingham)

BLAINE – WSDOT will close D Street at the I-5 interchange in Blaine for 50 straight days starting Monday, April 5, to build two roundabouts.

Downtown businesses will remain open and detour routes will be clearly marked to help drivers around the construction. 

The 50-day closure will speed up construction and reduce impacts to drivers and local businesses by allowing crews to build the roundabouts quickly and efficiently.

“We’re ready to get in and out of here as quickly as possible,” project engineer Chris Damitio said. “Road construction can be an inconvenience, but we believe we have planned this closure to minimize the disruption to drivers and local businesses.”

Specifically, crews will close the following:
• northbound I-5 on-ramp
• southbound I-5 on-ramp
• D Street between the northbound on-ramp and southbound off-ramp.

WSDOT has included incentives and penalties in the contract to encourage the contractor to complete the 50-day closure early.

In addition to the roundabouts, WSDOT will make modifications to I-5 to help slow drivers down as they approach the border. This work will be completed after 50-day closure.

The $2.8 million safety and traffic-flow improvement project is fully funded by the federal government and will complement improvements the General Service Administration made at the I-5, Peace Arch border crossing.

For more project details, visit the Web page www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/I5/blaineinterchange/.  

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