Thursday, March 15, 2012

US 395 Bridge Construction Coming

Yes, it's outside of our immediate area, but if you plan to do any travelling this summer in Stevens or Ferry counties, you should be warned that the US 395/SR 20 Columbia River bridge will be under construction.

The bridge will be resurfaced for four months starting in July to fix more than seven decades of wear and tear. To inform everyone about the project, the Washington State Department of Transportation will host an informational open house on March 28 to discuss anticipated traffic impacts, oversize load restrictions and a lengthy detour route. The open house is 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Stevens County Sheriff/Ambulance Training Room, 425 N. Hwy 395 in Colville.

Crews will rebuild the bridge roadway one side at a time, and the WSDOT anticipates everything from 10-minute delays to full nighttime closures. To keep traffic moving, temporary traffic signals will be placed at either end of the bridge allowing alternating traffic to cross. Signal cycles will be about 10 minutes. Also, the detour for oversize loads and during full closures is 68 miles, so plan accordingly. Full closures are expected between 7 p.m. and 5 a.m. during 15 to 20 days of the job.

No comments:


About SRTC

SRTC is the federally designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for Spokane County. Urbanized areas with populations exceeding 50,000 people are required to have an MPO. SRTC was formed to address the county's transportation planning needs. It provides coordination in planning between the public, cities, small towns, the county, the state, transit providers, and tribes.

SRTC offers services including transportation monitoring, transportation modeling, census information analysis, travel demand forecasting, historical traffic count analysis, geographic information systems, and trip generation rates.