Drivers will face lane closures over the few months on East Valley Highway (aka 84th Avenue South) in Kent between South 196th Street and South 180th Street.
Crews will reduce traffic to one lane in each direction daily from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Feb. 19 through May 31, according to the Public Works Department. Crews will install new ADA compliant curb ramps, new vehicle detection systems, lane markings, concrete approaches to railroad crossings at South 188th Street and roadway overlays.
Traffic control will be in place, but alternate routes are advised. The contractor was scheduled to start the project last fall and traffic notices were sent out by the city.
Rob Brown, city transportation engineering manager, explained the delay.
“The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 302 strike last summer delayed the start enough that we were not confident that the project could be completed before the weather changed,” Brown said in an email. “The start of the project was delayed through the winter to avoid the potential of having the project winter over in a partially completed state.”
The City Council last year approved Kent-based Scarsella’s low bid of $2.2 million for the project. The city will pay for the project out of its business and occupation tax fund. The council adopted a B&O tax in 2014 to help pay for street repairs because so many roads were in bad shape.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated with the reasons for the project delay to this spring from last fall.
Talk to us
Please share your story tips by emailing editor@kentreporter.com.
To share your opinion for publication, submit a letter through our website https://www.kentreporter.com/submit-letter/. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. (We’ll only publish your name and hometown.) Please keep letters to 300 words or less.
