What’s Up With That? Salmon Creek interchange work spreads out

This has to do with Northeast 10th Avenue, just north of the Salmon Creek Park and Ride. When the Park and Ride was built, the county did not widen about a two-block stretch of 10th, from 141st Street to just before 44th Street. There are wide shoulders and sidewalks before and after, but this piece does not have shoulders or a sidewalk on the east side, plus the road is wearing down. Two years ago, the area was surveyed and right-of-way sticks put up, but those were eventually knocked down. A month ago, it was surveyed again and new sticks put up. Does the county plan to fix that area? What is the timeline?

— Diane Mallory, Salmon Creek

Yes, Diane, the county plans to upgrade the street. Work will begin next spring, according to public works spokesman Jeff Mize.

“This is going to be a continuation of what we did on 10th Avenue as part of the interchange project” that’s adding various on- and offramps to I-5 — plus a 139th Street bridge over the freeway, Mize said.

That work, a sprawling partnership project between the Washington State Department of Transportation and Clark County Public Works, has already brought improvements to the lower portion of 10th Avenue, from Tenney Road to 141st Street.

The section that concerns you, Diane, will get the same treatment: one travel lane in each direction, a center turn lane, sidewalks and bicycle lanes. “The center left turn lane is something residents up there have wanted for some time,” Mize said. “Construction is expected to begin in spring 2013.”

Meanwhile, the roadways on either side of the planned freeway interchange and bridge have all been built by a county contractor; a contractor working for the state will build the interchange itself. The work was awarded on June 29 to Max J. Kuney Co., with a winning bid of $43.4 million. Construction is scheduled to begin this summer.

Already under way is construction of additional freeway lanes on both sides of I-5 up to 179th Street, and of an additional northbound exit lane off I-205 to 134th Street.

Everything should be done — if there’s really any such thing — in summer 2014.

— Scott Hewitt