Expect 3 years of work on Highway 522 in Monroe, starting this summer
Published 12:01 am Tuesday, May 31, 2011
MONROE — The work to widen Highway 522 is scheduled to start in less than a month.
The project aims to reduce head-on collisions and reduce traffic congestion. Work could begin late June or early July now
that a construction company has been selected.
Last week, the state Department of Transportation awarded the project to Scarsella Brothers Inc. of Kent. The company’s $73 million construction bid was the lowest of nine bids. With other costs such as design and property acquisition figured in, the project is expected to cost $159.7 million.
The company will be responsible for building a 1,700-foot-long bridge over the Snohomish River, adding a lane in each direction over part of the two-lane highway and adding a roundabout in Monroe.
The bid was 15 percent less than what the department had estimated, spokeswoman Meghan Pembroke said.
This means a savings of $13 million that can be reallocated to another project, Pembroke said. The state Legislature will determine where the money goes, she said.
Improvements to Highway 522 have been eagerly anticipated.
“We have heard from drivers that they have been waiting (for) this project for years,” Pembroke said. “Drivers are going to appreciate the benefits when it’s done.”
The work is scheduled to be finished by fall 2014.
Drivers should expect delays during the work. There will be partial nighttime lane closures this summer. Full-lane closures for rock blasting, for about an hour each time, are scheduled in the fall. The dates of the closures are still to be determined, Pembroke said.
The widening is planned south and west of Monroe over a four-mile stretch from 179th Avenue SE to the Snohomish River bridge. A concrete-barrier median will be installed to prevent head-on collisions. From 2005 to 2009, there were 92 collisions on the stretch, three of them fatal and one serious, according to DOT’s numbers.
During the same period, another 59 collisions took place at the interchange of Highway 522 and164th Street SE.
The gas tax approved by voters in 2003 will fund the project.
For more information on the project, go to http://tinyurl.com/44lx6lu.
Alejandro Dominguez: 425-339-3422; adominguez@ heraldnet.com.
