With the cooler temperatures and wetter conditions, work to add a third lane to state Highway 14 is wrapping up for the year and will resume in the spring. (Photos by Amanda Cowan/The Columbian)Photo Gallery
With the temperatures dropping and more frequent rainfall, the road work season is coming to an end.
With it, one of the higher profile projects, the addition of a third lane to state Highway 14 between Southeast 164th Avenue and Interstate 205, is wrapping up for the season and will return next spring.
Over the past few months, the Washington State Department of Transportation’s contractor crew completed most of a noise wall — the final panel will be placed next week — widened the north side of the highway, laid the first layer of asphalt, removed the temporary barrier on the north side and restriped westbound Highway 14.
In addition to final paving, next year’s work includes installing guardrails, final striping and installing permanent signs, like the electronic signs that will indicate when the part-time shoulder is open to traffic.
The $28 million project is on schedule and is expected to wrap up next summer. Once the project is complete, drivers will be able to use that stretch of shoulder on westbound Highway 14 during peak times, marking the first, non-bus instance of shoulder driving in Clark County.
New safety measures
With narrow, shoulderless lanes, that stretch of Highway 14 proved to be a hot spot for collisions and disabled vehicles.
To combat it, WSDOT activated a new ramp meter at the S.E. 164th Avenue on-ramp earlier than scheduled and installed a temporary queue warning system just east of the work zone, alerting drivers about slowdowns.
Early returns are positive. Between Aug. 15, when the queue warning system was installed, to Oct. 14 there were eight collisions and one disabled vehicle in the work zone.
From June 9 to Aug. 15, there were 18 collisions and seven disabled vehicles in the work zone.
This story was made possible by Community Funded Journalism, a project from The Columbian and the Local Media Foundation. Top donors include the Ed and Dollie Lynch Fund, Patricia, David and Jacob Nierenberg, Connie and Lee Kearney, Steve and Jan Oliva, The Cowlitz Tribal Foundation and the Mason E. Nolan Charitable Fund. The Columbian controls all content. For more information, visit columbian.com/cfj.
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