Latest news with #SummerDerrey
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Yahoo
Vantage Bridge I-90 lane closures return 24/7 after July 4: What drivers need to know
This story was originally published on You've got two more weekends of smooth traveling on eastbound I-90 across the Vantage Bridge, but after the 4th of July, the 24/7 lane restrictions return. This is the second year of work on the 60-year-old Vantage Bridge over the Columbia River. For the last few months, WSDOT has closed a lane in each direction on Mondays through Thursdays, but reopened the lanes for weekend travel. That will be changing soon. 'After the 4th of July, we're going to close it down 24/7 for those single lane closures in each direction,' Summer Derrey, communications specialist for the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT), said. 'Labor Day weekend will be the final weekend when all the lanes will be open, and then the lane restrictions will remain until work is stopped by the weather sometime in November.' Drivers need to be prepared for the return of long delays through the area, especially on Friday and Sunday afternoons. 'This is a recreational route,' Derrey said. 'If you're traveling across the state between the Fourth of July and Labor Day, you will definitely need to plan for additional travel time across the Vantage Bridge.' The best idea is to avoid the area. 'If you're farther to the north, go up toward the North Cascades and go around that way,' Derrey said. 'If you're closer to the Yakima area, loop back down to Moxie or through the Tri-Cities, and scoop back up. There are a lot of ways to avoid significant backups, just getting across that pinch point, across the Vantage bridge, depending on where you need to go.' One place you shouldn't go is the Old Vantage Highway. Your GPS will want to send you that way. That highway is tiny. It's a windy, two-lane road with no lighting. It's an elk migration path that also attracts a variety of other animals. And during the biggest backups last year, it did not move for the final two miles as you tried to merge back onto the freeway. I tried it at about 6:45 a.m. one morning, and it was fine. Try it at 11 a.m., and you're asking for trouble. Be sure to check the Gorge concert schedule before you head across the bridge. Concert weekends during similar closures last year were brutal. And we have three more years of this. Chris Sullivan is a traffic reporter for KIRO Newsradio. Read more of his stories here. Follow KIRO Newsradio traffic on X.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Road construction ramping up for summer
Apr. 4—MOSES LAKE — It's still early in the spring and as a result still early in the road construction season, but there are some long-term projects already underway. Short-term projects are starting here and there around the region. Drivers heading north to Chelan who plan to take Highway 97A Monday will encounter traffic slowdowns at the Knapps Hill tunnel north of Entiat. Maintenance and inspection work will require flagger-controlled traffic. Work is scheduled from 7 a.m., with flagger control starting about 8 a.m., to 4 p.m. An alternate route is available on Highway 97 on the east side of the Columbia River. One local project already is underway; crews are reconstructing a 2.1-mile section of Westshore Drive. As drivers on Westshore already know, the old road surface has been removed, road crews are building a new roadbed and subsurface drainage system. When that's completed Westshore will be repaved with sidewalks and gutters added. Some sections have one-lane traffic and flagging for traffic control. There are detours using Road E Northeast and Road F Northeast. The other major regional project is the second year of construction on the Vantage Bridge along Interstate 90. Traffic is reduced to one lane in each direction through May 23, the start of the Memorial Day weekend. Speed in the construction zone is reduced to 40 miles per hour and loads more than nine feet wide are prohibited. Work on the bridge has resulted in traffic delays, particularly on Friday afternoons eastbound and Sunday afternoons westbound. Both lanes across the bridge will remain open through the entire month of June, until July 8. In an earlier interview Summer Derrey, Washington Department of Transportation assistant communications manager for the South Central Region, said work on the bridge will be continuing during June, but won't affect travel. After July 8, however, the bridge will go back to being one lane in each direction through the end of the construction season in late October. Derrey recommended people think about alternate routes. Washington State Patrol Trooper Jeremy Weber, public information officer for WSP Region 6, said drivers should remember that sections of the detour routes aren't usually as busy as they will be this summer. Weber cited State Route 243 between the Vantage and Vernita bridges as an example. "(State Route) 243 was never designed for the truck traffic that it has on it right now," Weber said. "They didn't anticipate so many heavy vehicles traveling that road on a daily basis." One summer project is underway in Adams County. Construction on a section of the Lind-Hatton Road, about five miles north of State Route 26, started last fall and was resumed last week. There was a detour since the road was closed over the winter, but with construction starting up again the detour route has been changed. The new route uses some gravel roads. Other projects are scheduled for later this summer. Repaving two sections of I-90, one between the Vantage Bridge and George and the second between Dodson Road to Mae Valley, was advertised for bid last week. Rebuilding of a section of Schoonover Road about eight miles west of Ritzville is scheduled to start in June. So is the reconstruction of a section of Stratford Road from Road 20 Northeast to the BNSF railroad tracks. Repaving of a section of Grape and Maple drives is scheduled for midsummer. Bren said that project could be in its finishing stages when the Moses Lake School District resumes classes in the fall. A roundabout at the intersection of State Route 26 and South First Street in Othello is dependent on funding, said Sebastian Moraga, WSDOT communications consultant, in an earlier interview. The project has been advertised and if it's funded, construction would be scheduled for midsummer, Moraga said.
