Highway 14 due for road work this year
Two-hour closures scheduled for area near Dog Mountain
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
A series of road projects will slow traffic on state Highway 14 starting next month, including one that will close the highway for two-hour blocks near Dog Mountain in the Columbia River Gorge.
The closures will allow workers to safely clear debris from the steep slope rising above the highway.
There will be no detours available during the two-hour closures at Dog Mountain, 53 miles east of Vancouver. The mountainous slope, with its popular trailhead for hikers, pinches the highway near the river and a parallel set of railroad tracks.
The highway will be closed five days a week from 4 to 6 p.m. beginning March 1.
“We are encouraging people to cross into Oregon and take I-84,” said Abbi Russell, a spokeswoman for the Washington Department of Transportation in Vancouver. “We’re concerned about significant backups at these closures.”
Beginning June 15, the highway will be closed four times a day — interspersed by one-hour blocks for traffic to go through. If you’re making summer driving plans, be aware that the highway will be closed each day through Sept. 2 from 7 to 9 a.m.; 10 a.m. to noon; 1 to 3 p.m.; and 4 to 6 p.m.
Workers will remove loose rock, unstable soil, trees and other debris from the slope above Highway 14.
The $3.8 million project also will include rock-clearing along the highway near White Salmon, but a detour will be available for motorists to use Highway 141 to loop through the town. The work will begin in March and wrap up in September.
Three other Highway 14 projects will affect motorists this spring and summer:
• Federal economic stimulus funds will provide $2.1 million for a $3.1 million project to resurface the highway from Interstate 5 to Southeast 164th Avenue in east Vancouver. Russell said the work will start in April and wrap up in the fall. Motorists should expect single-lane closures.
• A $57 million project will widen the highway from two to four lanes over 2.1 miles from the Sixth Avenue offramp to Union Street in Camas. More notably, the project will include a second bridge paralleling the existing one on the east end of Lady Island. Contractors will replace the guardrail and install a median on the bridge on the west end of the island.
It will also include a “split diamond” interchange with a set of onramps and offramps at Union Street in Camas and a half-mile east at Second Street in Washougal. The interchange will replace traffic signals on the highway at Second and Union streets. Construction will begin this summer, with completion in 2012.
• Safety improvements will straighten curves and create two left-turn pockets at Cape Horn Road and Salmon Falls Road in the Cape Horn area of Highway 14. The $3.7 million project is federally funded.
Rate this
You must be logged in to rate this.
Current Rating :
