SR 539 - Guide Meridian Widening

Work is complete

noreply@blogger.com (Dustin Terpening) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:12:00 +0000

This may or may not come as a bit of a surprise, but we're all finished with our work on the Guide Meridian. That's right, the Guide is now construction free.

There are a few little things we have left to finish, but they are all off the roadway.

Thank you for your patience throughout the work - I know it wasn't easy at times.

I hope you enjoy your new and improved Guide Meridian.

City to remove old railroad tracks

noreply@blogger.com (Dustin Terpening) — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:32:00 +0000

This isn't related to any of the work we're doing on the Guide, but I figured that since it's happening on a part of the Guide, it's probably worth sharing. Here's the news release I got from the city of Bellingham:

Railroad track removal on Meridian Street
Beginning at 9 a.m. Friday, July 9, traffic on Meridian Street near Birchwood Avenue will be reduced to single lanes each way to allow removal of unused railroad crossing signals.

Midvale Electric, under agreement with Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) and the City of Bellingham, will remove the crossing signals on Friday and relocate them to Beaudry Road in Moxee, WA. Rather than recycle the signals as scrap, the creative reuse will save resources while improving a hazardous track crossing in eastern Washington. Work on the signal removal will be completed in one day.

Monday through Wednesday, July 12-14, BNSF and City of Bellingham Public Works crews will remove the crossing panel and railroad track in preparation for an overlay of asphalt. Again traffic will be reduced to one lane in each direction.

Flaggers will direct traffic through the lane closures in the construction zone. Drivers are encouraged to plan now to avoid the area if possible and to use caution if travel in the construction zone is necessary.

For more information, call the Bellingham Public Works Department at 778-7700.

Fixing the bumps

noreply@blogger.com (Dustin Terpening) — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:44:00 +0000

I'm sure this will be happy news for many of you who cross the Nooksack River overflow bridges on a regular basis: Crews will start repairing the bumps this week. The downside, though, is that the work will take several weeks to complete and we'll have a lane closed until it's done.

If they just paved, why are there bumps?
Remember, we're talking about the existing overflow bridge in the northbound direction - not the new one we just built in the southbound direction. The bridge was built with expansion joints. The expansion joints - staying true to their name - allow the bridge to expand and contract as necessary as the temperature rises and falls. We don't pave over the joints, just right up to the edge of them. Everywhere you feel a bump is at an expansion joint. Ordinarily, the transition would be smooth, but the expansion joints are no longer flat; they have rutted with age. By the way, they're about 17 years old.

Taking measurements of the rutted expansion joints.

How do we fix the problem?
We will tear out and replace the expansion joints. The new joints should help smooth things out across the bridge.

Things people do in roundabouts

noreply@blogger.com (Dustin Terpening) — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 16:32:00 +0000

I had a nice surprise on Tuesday when I drove the length of the Guide - all the lanes were open and the barrels were gone. Wow, what a change from the original two-lane roadway that used to be there. Even though it was just after 5 p.m. - during "rush hour" - I was still able to get from Bellingham to Lynden quickly and easily.

But, enough of that; moving on to the subject line...

On my way back from Lynden, I saw a driver do something in the Ten Mile Road roundabout I hadn't seen before. The driver stopped in the roundabout to yield to us outside the roundabout. I'm not sure why, but they did. They had the right of way. (Roundabout rule: always yield to vehicles inside the roundabout.) Several vehicles, including myself, stopped for the pickup truck. When we saw that the pickup truck was not going to go, we went.

You know what I said to my wife after we got through the roundabout? I said, "Drivers make mistakes at roundabouts, but at least the speeds are slow enough that we can usually avoid them without getting in a collision."

What wacky things have you seen drivers do in the Guide roundabouts?

A peek inside a catch basin

noreply@blogger.com (Dustin Terpening) — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 21:42:00 +0000

Have you ever wondered what it looks like beneath those manhole covers along the road? Well, hopefully these pictures satisfy your curiosity.

This crewmember is working inside a catch basin beneath the Guide Meridian.

A catch basin is simply the junction of two or more pipes. It's a location where we can get in and clean out the pipes and make repairs if necessary. The pipes transfer highway water runoff to retention ponds.

Lane lines scheduled for next week

noreply@blogger.com (Dustin Terpening) — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 22:12:00 +0000

As it currently stands, the paint and plastic striping crews are scheduled to do the lane lines and markings Friday, June 18. The work will take most of the day and crews will flip-flop traffic around to get everything completed.

Of course, this is weather dependent and will be rescheduled if necessary. Though, the weather "gurus" are forecasting a stretch of nice weather starting this weekend. Let's hope it lasts.

You know we're getting closer to finish the project when the posts start focusing on striping the highway and not much else. We're definitely in the home stretch.

Bridge uncovered and painting nearly done

noreply@blogger.com (Dustin Terpening) — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 15:48:00 +0000

Crews finished the bulk of the painting this week and have untarped the Nooksack River bridge near Lynden. All that's left now is touch-up painting, and that can be done with traffic on the bridge.

Early Monday morning, June 7, crews will switch southbound drivers back onto the bridge. The switch should be relatively painless and shouldn't cause too long of delays for the early-morning drivers. We'll keep one lane closed on the bridge to finish up the last of the painting.

After traffic is switched, crews will start tearing out the temporary asphalt crossovers that were used to switch drivers back and forth between the north- and southbound lanes.

Fascinating magazine article about the Nooksack bridge

noreply@blogger.com (Dustin Terpening) — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 15:06:00 +0000

For those of you who love engineering and bridge building, and are fascinated by the construction of the new Nooksack River bridge, you'll love this article about the bridge in the National Steele Bridge Alliance magazine.

The Cantilever Truss Shortcut - by Nathan Brown, P.E., S.E.

Your Friday paving and painting update

noreply@blogger.com (Dustin Terpening) — Fri, 28 May 2010 15:25:00 +0000

It's time again for the weekly paving and painting update. Let's see, I think I'll start with the painting.

As you can see by this picture, we're oh-so-close to finishing painting the underside of the Nooksack River Bridge. The bulk of it is painted; now crews have to go back through and do a lot of little touch-up painting here and there.

And, just because I think it's intriguing to see what it looks like from inside the tarps on the top half of the bridge, here's a picture from the "inside".

As for paving, it's all done except for the stretch between Wiser Lake Road and River Road, which is a pretty short stretch. We're getting close to finishing the paving. All this rain we're getting in late May is actually making it pretty difficult to get the final paving done. If you looked outside right now (Friday morning) you'd think it was March and not the last weekend in May.

Nooksack bridge painting update

noreply@blogger.com (Dustin Terpening) — Mon, 24 May 2010 21:31:00 +0000

I know it's hard to see in this picture, but one half of the top half of the Nooksack River Bridge is painted. Crews finished painting it last week and have shifted all the tarps and equipment to the remaining portion.

With any luck, the painting crews will finish the remainder of the top half this week. The crews painting the bottom half of the bridge should be getting pretty close to finishing as well.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but we could be looking at having the bridge painted and open to traffic in two weeks. We'll see. It's a definite maybe.

Roundabout discussion on local radio show

noreply@blogger.com (Dustin Terpening) — Fri, 14 May 2010 20:34:00 +0000

For those of you who are interested (and get this in time), Whatcom County's local radio show - KGMI 790 - is having a discussion on roundabouts at 5 p.m. tonight (Friday). Specifically, they'll be talking about the Guide roundabouts. If you have strong feelings one way or another, feel free to tune in and even call in (if you're so inclined). I'll have a 5-minute spot on the show to respond to a few of questions/concerns people have.

I've heard from many of you that you wish drivers would (fill in the blank) _________. I've heard it all (I think). Now's your chance to share those opinions with the other drivers.

Anniversary of the first Guide roundabout

noreply@blogger.com (Dustin Terpening) — Thu, 13 May 2010 20:46:00 +0000

Guess what day Sunday, May 16, is? It's the one-year anniversary of the Ten Mile Road roundabout opening - the first roundabout on the Guide. Can you believe it's been open for a whole year already? I can't. My how time flies.

Now level with me; have they really been as bad as some people thought they were going to be? Were the doomsdayers right about the collisions and congestion they were going to cause? I remember being told that these roundabouts were going to cause so many collisions that autobody shops would be able to open at the intersections and reap a bountiful harvest. I'm happy to report that that's just not the case.

We're not surprised the roundabouts are working as well as they are. Our research before building them indicated similar results around the country.

Let's celebrate this momentous occasion by watching a video of drivers who know how to drive signals... er, I mean, a video of drivers running red lights in Springfield, Ohio.

We'll try this again - painting the Nooksack River Bridge

noreply@blogger.com (Dustin Terpening) — Tue, 11 May 2010 20:42:00 +0000

The painting crews have regrouped, and have re-tarped the Nooksack River Bridge. You'll notice that the tarps they used this time are different - hopefully the new setup will better withstand our sometimes windy and wet weather.

Lets hope this sunny, warm weather is here to stay, for all of our sakes. It sure makes paving and painting on the project easier.

Paving between Ten Mile and Pole roads

noreply@blogger.com (Dustin Terpening) — Fri, 07 May 2010 18:06:00 +0000

I think this will come as good news to many of you; we plan to pave between Ten Mile Road and Pole Road starting next week. We have one lane closed in both directions between the two roads right now and it will stay that way until we finish paving there.

Provided that we don't have any weather-related delays, equipment-related delays or product-related delays, the work should take a little less than a week to complete. Once that section is paved, crews will move north and pave between Pole and Wiser Lake roads. And when that's finished, they'll move north again and pave between Wiser Lake and River roads. In total, it's about three weeks of paving without any delays.

There's a lane closed in both directions at the Wiser Lake causeway too while crews install the median barrier.

The bridge has been unwrapped

noreply@blogger.com (Dustin Terpening) — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 18:37:00 +0000

In case you hadn't noticed, the bridge was wrapped in white plastic earlier this week, and now it's not. Why? Apparently it got a little windy (and rainy) earlier this week and sort of destroyed what the painting contractor had put up. They have since removed all the plastic and are in the process of revising their plan for wrapping and painting the bridge. They need to put something up that will better withstand our ever-changing spring weather.

The unwrapped bridge

We're still painting under the bridge though.

(This text is a test -EAVB_HGLGRSUJPJ)

Looks like a giant marshmallow

noreply@blogger.com (Dustin Terpening) — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:47:00 +0000

I thought you might like to see the view from inside the marshallow that is the Nooksack River Bridge. The new bridge is completely covered in white plastic because we're getting ready to paint the topside of it. The plastic tent will help us contain the paint within the workzone and protect the environment.

We're still painting underneath the bridge too.

Paving and painting updates

noreply@blogger.com (Dustin Terpening) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 19:23:00 +0000

Let's start with an update on the bridge painting progress. We're a little over halfway done painting the underside of the new Nooksack River Bridge. And, as you've probably noticed, if you drive the Guide regularly, they've started to tarp the top (visible portion) of the bridge. Once the top is all tarped off, then crews will paint it.

This is a shot from under the new (right) and old (left) Nooksack River bridges.

Tarping off the top of the bridge.

As for paving, I'm told that we expect to finish paving at the very north end of the project (near Lynden) today. And, provided the weather cooperates, we should finish the striping there too. We'll be shifting traffic around in that area, so be prepared for that.

We have paved the final layer of asphalt in the southbound direction between Wiser Lake Road and Pole Road. And, provided there aren't any hiccups with equipment, we should finish the final paving in the southbound direction between Lynden and River Road today.

Digging up the road near Lynden

noreply@blogger.com (Dustin Terpening) — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 15:02:00 +0000

As project inspector Jeff Peterson put it: "The beginning of the end… Crews started removing the last of the old pavement at the tie-in point in Lynden on Thursday. This will be done in two phases to keep traffic moving at all times. It will take about 3-4 weeks for the tie in to be completed."

What's the tie-in point? Jeff is referring to the area where our project ends and meets/connects with the existing roadway.

Look, the bridge is turning green

noreply@blogger.com (Dustin Terpening) — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 21:21:00 +0000

Here are some follow-up pictures to last week's post about the painting we are doing under the new Nooksack River Bridge. As you can see, the final coat of paint is green, just like the existing Nooksack River Bridge.

Nearly ready for base and final paving

noreply@blogger.com (Dustin Terpening) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 20:14:00 +0000

After weeks of digging and rebuilding, crews are nearly finished with the road foundation near the original Nooksack River bridge. As soon as it is done (probably some time this week), we will bring in the paving crews to start laying the base (first) level of asphalt.

And once the base level is done, crews will shift traffic off the new bridge and back to the original bridge, so the painting crews can paint the topside of the bridge. Painting the topside will take approximately two months to complete.

As soon as crews are done rebuilding the road foundation near the Nooksack River Bridge, they will move north and start rebuilding the stretch of road between Fish Trap Creek bridge and Bay Lyn Drive. We will have to shift traffic around and close some lanes to do the work.

This brings us to the part that you've all been waiting for... drum roll please... the final paving between Ten Mile Road and Bay Lyn Drive. Crews can start putting down the final level of asphalt on/after April 1 as the weather permits. Good news, huh! We're pretty excited too.

Painting under the bridge

noreply@blogger.com (Dustin Terpening) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:36:00 +0000

We've been cleaning, prepping and painting the underside of the new Nooksack River bridge for the last couple weeks. Here is a series of pictures that will help give you an idea of what crews are doing under the bridge.

Crews are working inside the plastic tarps along the bottom side of the Nooksack River bridge. The plastic helps prevent cleaning debris and the painting applications from leaving the area and impacting the environment.

The view from inside the plastic.

The bolts that help hold the bridge together come to the project "greased" to prevent rusting. After they're installed, the grease has to be cleaned off before they can be painted.

This is what the bolts look like after they've been cleaned - "white steel."

Checking the backsides of the bolts and in the tight areas to make sure the bolts have been thoroughly cleaned.

Checking the backsides of the bolts and in the tight areas to make sure the bolts have been thoroughly cleaned.

I know bolts aren't very exciting, but for some reason I thought this was a neat picture of bolts and so I figured I'd include it. : ) This is a close up of them after their "bath."

And this is what it looks like after the first coat of primer. We will put two coats of paint on after this. The paint will be green.

Now you know what they're doing under the bridge.

Looking for volunteers

noreply@blogger.com (Dustin Terpening) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:58:00 +0000

We're looking for a few older drivers who would be willing to participate in a survey about the Guide Meridian roundabouts. If you or some one else you know might be interested, please get in contact with me.

Dustin Terpening
360-757-5997
terpenid@wsdot.wa.gov

You're probably wondering what we mean by "older." I don't think there is an age limit per se... If you're not sure, give me a call or shoot me an e-mail and we can work it out.

Digging and grinding up the roadway

noreply@blogger.com (Dustin Terpening) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:16:00 +0000

Here are pictures from last week of crews digging up the roadway and grinding asphalt off the bridges between River Road and Wiser Lake Road.

Digging up the roadway and road bed so that it can be rebuilt to better withstand traffic.

Grinding the old asphalt off the original Nooksack River Bridge.

Grinding the old asphalt off the original Nooksack River Bridge.

The grinding machine.

Grinding the asphalt up and spitting it into a dump truck.

Grinding the asphalt up and spitting it into a dump truck.

All traffic on new Nooksack River bridge

noreply@blogger.com (Dustin Terpening) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:51:00 +0000

As of this morning, all traffic has been shifted to the west side of the Guide Meridian between Wiser Lake Road and River Road. Crews were able to restripe the roadway yesterday and then switched traffic this morning.

The River Road camera shows northbound and southbound drivers on the new Nooksack River bridge.

Traffic will be temporarily reduced to one lane in each direction through this stretch while crews tear out the original Guide Meridian roadway and rebuild it. Expect the work to take about a month to complete.

You'll notice in this traffic camera picture that crews are grinding the old asphalt off the original Nooksack River bridge.

Returning to one lane following the Olympics

noreply@blogger.com (Dustin Terpening) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:40:00 +0000

As soon as the weather permits, expect to see crews out restriping the roadway and shifting traffic between River Road and Wiser Lake Road. We will have to say good bye, temporarily, to the two lanes in each direction and return to one lane in each direction in this area. This will free up the original Guide lanes so crews can work on them. We're going to tear those lanes out and rebuild them. The work is expected to take a month or more to complete.