The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) expects to finish the $7 million Northwest Region Emergency Pavement Repair project next year.
The project includes the repair of approximately 20 miles of the roughest sections of road in King, Snohomish, Skagit, and Whatcom counties and a quarter-mile long stretch of westbound I-90 between Exits 31 and 32 in North Bend. The I-90 repair work will be completed early this month, while the rest of the project is expected to complete by April.
This project includes more than 80 work sites on three interstates, 12 state highways, and four bridge decks. Extra wear-and-tear from slowing traffic in snowy conditions combined with cold, wet winter weather damaged the roadways.
WSDOT maintenance crews determined the deterioration in North Bend was too severe for a patch job. The area required grinding off the layer of damaged pavement and replacing it with a fresh surface of hot mix asphalt. Asphalt cannot be applied during wet weather.
“The extra rainy spring pushed back our ability to fix a lot of these problems,” James Harper, WSDOT project engineer, said. “That and the size of this fix meant a longer timeline.”
Most of the repairs have been scheduled for low-travel times to avoid daytime lane reductions.