MONROE — Rock blasting on Highway 522 will be delayed.
The Washington State Department of Transportation had planned to do a series of closures in November to widen lanes on Highway 522. It’s part of a $159.7 million project to prevent head-on collisions on the highway.
The blasting has now been postponed until spring, when the weather is drier, DOT spokeswoman Bronlea Mishler said.
With less rain, Scarsella Brothers Inc. of Kirkland can have more control over erosion and reduce pollution in the streams, Mishler said.
It was the contractor’s decision to delay the work. Crews can prevent rain from washing dust and debris into streams and the Snohomish River, but it takes more time and money.
“We can do it (this month), but it’s more expensive,” Mishler said.
The rescheduling does not affect the project’s estimated completion date of fall 2014, Mishler said.
Work is to continue this month, with lane realignment and the placement of temporary striping. There have been nighttime, partial-lane closures in October, but none scheduled this week, Mishler said.
The work is now expected to start as early as April, and crews could blast away at a rocky hill along the highway as many as 150 times. The blasts are aimed to remove 300,000 cubic yards of rock to make space for extra lanes. There would be full-lane closures for one hour in midday to do this, Mishler said.
Scarsella also plans to build a 1,700-foot bridge over the Snohomish River, adding a lane in each direction on part of the two-lane highway, and add a roundabout in Monroe.
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 2005-09, there have been 92 collisions on the stretch, three of them fatal and one serious, according to DOT numbers.
For more information, people can visit the project’s website at www.wsdot.wa.gov/projects/sr522/widen/snoriver_us2.
Alejandro Dominguez: 425-339-3422; adominguez@heraldnet.com.
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