This week On Yelm Highway

This week the contractor will be dressing up the drainage basin on the south side of Yelm Hwy, essentially smoothing out the pond to its final shape.  Work on the drainage basin in Boulevard Heights continues.    Installation of the new water line will continue moving eastward.  Lane closures resulting in one lane can be expected periodically on Wednesday July 28th due to sawcutting asphalt.

Weekly Updates/Schedules

We will be publishing our weekly updates and schedules on Tuesdays, and Fridays.   Tuesday's posts will include a "what's up for this week" and Friday's will contain "what's been done so far".

When "breaking news" or unscheduled closures happen, we will be posting them to Twitter.


We hope this will help you in your planning.

Remember, businesses are open and accessible throughout the project.

Plan for extended travel times.

What's coming next week?

From the Project Coordinator:

Woodworth is continuing work in the pond in Boulevard Heights and will be installing drainage structures next week.  Along Yelm Hwy, they will be installing storm drain pipe west of Brassfield and there will be occasional lane restrictions.  Excavation will continue along the entire roadway to prepare for the widened roadway. 

Please remember to drive safely, plan for delays, and follow the directions of Work Zone Personnel.

Also remember that all businesses are open during the construction.

City of Oly work that could affect Yelm Highway Commuters

While not directly connected with our Yelm Highway project, this City of Olympia project will impact one of the possible commuter detour routes.

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FROM:  CITY OF OLYMPIA
NEWS RELEASE

BOULEVARD ROAD/LOG CABIN UPDATE

Beginning Monday, July 12, 2010, the inside lane of Boulevard Road and Log Cabin Road Roundabout will be narrowed for approximately two weeks; the outside lane will remain open at all times.




WHAT WE’RE DOING
Crews must narrow the lane to allow them room to access a shut off valve to a sewer pipe that failed. The sewer line is a “dry line” (installed to accommodate future growth, but not active) that crews discovered failed late last week. The City’s contactor, KLD Construction, will be returning in the coming weeks to determine the location and fix the failed line. As this is a “dry line”, no sewer or STEP customers will be affected.






QUESTIONS


If you have questions about this project please contact Tim Richardson, Engineering Project Manager, Public Works Department at 360.753.8749 or email publicworks@ci.olympia.wa.us.




www.olympiawa.gov/construction

Excitement on the Project

There was a bit of excitement on the Yelm Highway Project last week. Here is what happened as described by project inspector Gordon Coleman:

Arcing electricity was noticed on one of the power lines along Yelm Highway on July 7th. Since it was one of the hottest days so far this summer, the extra demand contributed by air conditioners was guessed to have been the cause. The arcing then caused heated material to fall to the ground, igniting the grass below. An employee from Woodworth & Co. driving a water truck notice the fire and was able to quickly extinguish the flames. For safety traffic was shut down for approximately half an hour while Potelco assessed and fixed the problem. It was also determined the arcing was not caused by construction since the power lines are on a completely separate system from Yelm Hwy's electricity system.


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Here is a short video of the arcing power, captured by Gordon:

video ©2010 G. Coleman

Looking ahead... July 12th-15th

Most of our lines of communication have returned from the Fourth of July holiday. Hope that you all had a good holiday.

Here is what we have on the schedule for this coming week.

On Monday, the contractor will be doing some asphalt cutting that will require closures of of one lane. They will wait to begin this until after 9:00 AM to minimize the impact of the lane closures.

Also on Monday, excavation work will begin on the water main installation. This will be starting at Henderson. and moving to the east and will involve lane restrictions.

Vegetation clearing continues on the East end of the project.

Please remember to obey all traffic control and work zone personnel's directions. They are working to keep you safe.

Also, check out Intercity Transit and RideShareOnline for possible commute options.

Update for this week- About work schedules and lane closures

The contractor is not working over the weekend (Friday thru Monday) so traffic should be ok for the holiday.
The demolition of the houses are complete, vegetation and trees are still being removed. Work is continuing on the Boulevard Heights retention pond area. Next week, water main work is planned to start.


We have been asked about the possibility of publishing a schedule of work. At this time we are still waiting for Woodworth to get information back from all of the subcontractors. After that, there will be a better idea of when things will happen.

We have also been asked about possibly publishing a schedule of lane closures, however, due to the nature of the project and the terms of the contract, there is no such schedule.  At least one lane will be open through the work zone at all times unless an unforeseen circumstance causes the short term closure of both lanes. We will be using Twitter (and this blog)  to notify the public of these short term or emergency closures.

For more complete project information, such as aerial photographs of the project zone (pre-construction) with project plans and drawings, and the history of the project, please visit our website at Thurston County Public Works and click on the Yelm Highway Project Information link on the left side of the page.

To follow us on Twitter, go to http://www.twitter.com/YelmHighwayInfo.