One-way traffic change coming to 10th Avenue and 139th Street

Driving around the Fred Meyer in Salmon Creek will soon be a one-way affair.

Starting mid-May and lasting through August, Clark County Public Works will limit traffic on 10th Avenue from Tenney Road to 139th street to one northbound lane. They will also limit traffic to two westbound lanes on 139th Street from 10th Avenue to the temporary traffic signal at Tenney Road.

The county expects the change to increase safety for both the general public and work crews from Rotschy Inc., which the county contracted for the improvements. It should also trim four to six weeks off of construction timetable for improving 10th Avenue.

“We’re still going on that piping on 10th,” said Darin Kysar, the company’s project manager. “We’ll be going another week and then we’ll be on the edge of 139th.”

Rotschy’s road work will head east on 139th Street, but only as far as the eastern edge of what will be the new park & ride. The Washington State Department of Transportation and its contractors will work on the actual road and overpass between the parking lot and 20th Avenue.

Kysar said the curbs throughout most of the park & ride were in. In a few weeks, Rotschy will start laying test panels – samples of the permeable surface to be used in the new facility – to test their effectiveness at absorbing run-off. It will be at least a few weeks before it starts paving the parking lot.

If the weather stays sunny, Rotschy will also start excavating at the corner of 139th Street and 10the Avenue next week. It’s been tilling the soil to prepare it for the eventual excavation.

For more updates, check WASHDOT’s project site.