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Detour ahead

Project to build overpass at Highway 500/St. Johns will delay drivers, walkers

By Andrea Damewood
Published: August 21, 2010, 12:00am

Getting traffic flowing smoothly on state Highway 500 will mean a year’s worth of detours and delays for travelers along St. Johns Boulevard and the Burnt Bridge Creek Trail in Vancouver, state transportation planners said.

The $57.6 million project is set to begin by January 2011. It will eliminate the traffic light at St. Johns and Highway 500 by turning the intersection into an overpass and creating a full diamond interchange, Bart Gernhart, regional administrator for the Washington Department of Transportation told the Vancouver City Council last week.

o What: Work will begin in January to get rid of the traffic light at St. Johns Boulevard and state Highway 500. St. Johns will be closed for one year as part of the project, causing detours and delays for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.

o When: An open house will be held from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 16. The open house is open to the public. Staff will be on hand to address concerns about businesses.

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o Where: Minnehaha Elementary School, 2800 NE 54th St.

During construction, St. Johns will be closed, sending local drivers to existing access points at 15th and 42nd Avenues. Trucks will be expected to exit and use Northeast Minnehaha Street to the north to stay out of the neighborhoods in the area.

Cyclists and pedestrians on the Burnt Bridge Creek Trail should plan on adding an extra 1.5 miles to their travels to take surface streets, including 29th and P streets, that are safer for non-motorized traffic.

“There’s not a lot of options, there really aren’t other ways to send people,” WSDOT Assistant Area Engineer Lori Figone said. “Most of the duration of the project, the trails will be closed.”

Gernhart said the state will use incentives and penalties to inspire contractors to finish within 12 months. He said they are considering bonuses or penalties of $5,000 a day, with a maximum limit.

The whole project is expected to be finished by fall 2013. Contractors will do as much work as possible on the overpass before closing St. Johns, he said.

“Lots of folks don’t know this is coming,” Councilor Larry Smith advised the planners. “It’s going to have a huge impact. You’ll have your hands full on community outreach.”

Figone said that the DOT has already started handing out flyers at key locations and has hosted many open houses. SHARE house also got flyers, to inform its patrons who may be accustomed to camping in the area. Another open house is set for Sept. 16.

The council also echoed a concern raised this year by State Rep. Jim Moeller about the safety of bikes and pedestrians as they cross St. James Boulevard, but planners said they plan to install a pedestrian warning light.

The project will eliminate one of three remaining traffic lights on Highway 500, reducing travel time and improving safety at the intersection, where there were 41 collisions last year, Gernhart said.

Gernhart said the overpass at St. Johns will soar 23 feet above the highway. The associated onramps and offramps will put the road itself some 50 feet above Burnt Bridge Creek. The walls will have a steel wire finish, allowing plants to grow on them, he said.

Since 1996, the state has installed three new interchanges between Interstate 5 and Orchards. Over the long-term, motorists on Highway 500 will lose access to Falk Road/42nd Avenue, where there is currently a signal.

That’s because planners consider the new interchange at St. Johns to be too close — within half a mile — to safely introduce more merging vehicles at 42nd. Instead, a bridge will carry 42nd across Highway 500. Planners are hoping contractors can tackle the 42nd Avenue crossing at roughly the same time they build another new interchange on state Highway 500, at 54th Avenue/Stapleton Road.

o What: Work will begin in January to get rid of the traffic light at St. Johns Boulevard and state Highway 500. St. Johns will be closed for one year as part of the project, causing detours and delays for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.

o When: An open house will be held from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 16. The open house is open to the public. Staff will be on hand to address concerns about businesses.

o Where: Minnehaha Elementary School, 2800 NE 54th St.

Mayor Tim Leavitt called delays involved with closing St. Johns a necessary evil.

“Road construction is a little painful,” he said. “But memories are short, and years from now people will be appreciative that the improvement has been made.”

Andrea Damewood: 360-735-4542 or andrea.damewood@columbian.com.

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