Contractor sought to install I-5 barriers

Published 6:54 pm Monday, April 27, 2009

MARYSVILLE — The state started advertising on Monday for contractors for the installation of concrete barriers in the I-5 median in Marysville.

The $29.4 million project is expected to improve safety on a 10-mile section of the freeway where eight people have died in cross-median crashes since 2000.

The project could begin this summer and is scheduled to be finished in 2010. The concrete barriers will replace cable barriers on the northbound side of the median, while those on the southbound side will remain.

The project includes $2.5 million in federal stimulus funding for cameras and electronic equipment that will enable traffic information regarding the stretch of I-5 to be included on the state Department of Transportation’s Web site.

Crews plan to install traffic cameras, overhead message signs and traffic detectors. The state estimates the project will support more than 155 jobs.