Construction on a state Department of Transportation traffic project on Highway 530 at Arlington Heights Road could resume as early as Friday.
The $995,000 project to widen and improve the intersection near Arlington and install a traffic signal began April 25 but was shut down May 19 after workers unearthed American Indian bones and artifacts during excavation for the road.
The area is near the site of a historic Stillaguamish village and along a route the tribe used to travel to the mountains. Tribal leaders needed time for further excavation at the site to determine whether more remains were buried in the area and to how best to rebury them.
“There will be tribal activity out there on Friday,” department spokeswoman Melanie Coon said Wednesday.
Although she declined to comment on the activity itself, tribal officials and Coon will talk to the media and answer questions at 3 p.m. at nearby Twin Rivers Park, she said.
Between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., transportation crews will close lanes in both directions intermittently to allow tribal members access to the site, Coon said.
“We are confident there will be no distraction to the public,” she said. “There won’t be anything there to see.”
Electronic signs on both ends will warn of the lane closures.
The discovery of the remains won’t require any design changes in the project. “We’re still on schedule for completion in 2005,” Coon said.
When the project is completed, new turn lanes and the traffic signal will help reduce congestion and the risk of collisions for more than 15,000 vehicles a day on that stretch of highway, Coon said.
During the shutdown, Wilder Construction assigned its work crews to other projects to take advantage of the good weather. How quickly work resumes will depend on how soon crews can leave other projects, she said.
“In this particular project, they had some wiggle room because the hardware in a signal project is something that takes a while to be fabricated and delivered,” Coon said. “Right now, the going time is around six to nine months.”
While 50 percent to 60 percent of the project is complete, crews still need to do some grading and paving, and install the signal, she said.
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