State transportation planners are moving ahead with a $57 million plan to erase one of the last three traffic lights along state Highway 500 in Vancouver.

The traffic light at St. Johns Boulevard will give way to a full-service interchange when construction is finished by 2012. With construction due to begin by late fall, transportation officials warn that motorists on St. Johns will lose access to the highway for as long as a year.

Bart Gernhart, regional administrator for the Washington Department of Transportation, said the closure is necessary so that contractors can build a new overpass carrying St. Johns over the highway.

The DOT will penalize the contractor if the closure takes longer than a year — and will pay an incentive to finish early.

“We’re going to get in and get it over with as soon as possible,” Gernhart told members of the Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council on Tuesday afternoon.

During the yearlong closure, motorists will be unable to access or cross Highway 500 at St. Johns. They will be redirected to existing access points at 15th Avenue to the west and 42nd Avenue to the east.

Afterward, Gernhart said the agency anticipates it will award bids on the project by the fall, with construction commencing immediately thereafter. He said the contractor likely will choose to do as much preparation as possible before blocking St. Johns, which should occur sometime late this year or early next year.

Traffic on Highway 500 will flow freely during the closure.

The Legislature allocated $57.6 million for the project, part of a $7.1 billion slate of transportation improvements approved in 2005.

Gernhart said the overpass at St. Johns will soar 23 feet above the highway. The associated on- and offramps means that St. Johns Road will be situated some 50 feet above Burnt Bridge Creek.

The project will include a traffic signal at the pedestrian crossing north of the highway where the Burnt Bridge Creek trail will cross St. Johns.

State Rep. Jim Moeller, D-Vancouver, raised concern about the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists.

“People come down that hill at a pretty fast speed,” Moeller said. “That’s an accident waiting to happen.”

Gernhart said the state initially designed a tunnel for the trail to cut below St. Johns, but switched to a “much more visible” crosswalk after neighbors raised concern about the personal safety of pedestrians walking through a somewhat isolated location.

The project will improve safety on the highway, where 55 accidents occurred last year.

It will also move toward the goal of turning Highway 500 into a free-flowing highway. 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.

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