THIS WEEK.. Traffic Revisions!!

Tuesday, November 30th- 
10:00 AM-4:00PM
The signal at Boulevard Rd will be turned off and traffic will be directed by Law Enforcement. Expect significant delays.


Laura St Intersection will be closed at 10:00 AM.  Please detour using 51st Ave and Boulevard Extension Rd.


Wednesday, December 1st-
7:30 AM - 4:00 PM
The signal at Boulevard Rd will be turned off and traffic will be directed by Law Enforcement. Expect significant delays.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Due to the rather inclement weather, it looks like we will be shut down all week.  Pilchuck wanted to work on the utilities, but the snow was covering up their locate marks faster than they could dig. This presented too much of a challenge, and they gave in to Mother Nature's wishes.

The contractor had already planned to be down Thursday through Sunday, resuming work on Monday.

Thurston County Public Works wants to remind you to drive responsibly, keep a safe distance between you and the next car, leave plenty of travel time, and if you can, postpone travel until the weather clears.

Check the county's Emergency Managment websites and facebook pages for information,
Thurston Emergency Management
facebook.com/ThurstonEM
or follow them on Twitter
twitter.com/ThurstonEM

Also, you can follow our other Twitter Feed for road closures and information
twitter.com/TCPWProjects

Here is a report of what was going on last week from our Field Inspector:

Last week the prime contractor, Woodworth and Co. had three to four separate crews per day working on new water and storm water installation. Pilchuck, natural gas contractor, was working near Orvas Court installing a new 8" gas main, working toward a tie-in point at Henderson Blvd. A subcontractor for Qwest phone, Rainer Valley Construction, continued to work near the Boulevard and Yelm Highway intersection. Woodworth will be starting the HDPE, sewer force main installation, the Monday following the Thanksgiving holiday. There will be no utility work this Saturday, 11-27-2010, but it is planned to resume the following week. Last Friday Woodworth stopped their pipe installation at mid-day and dropped back to install a more permanent asphalt trench patch in place of the temporary daily cold mix. This was a good plan given the forecast for snow.

 Woodworth will not be working for the remaining of the week due to the inclement weather and the Thanksgiving Holiday. Please continue to travel through the work zone safely, especially with the recent challenge of snow and ice.






Thank you for your continued patience and cooperation during our project.

New Contact numbers

We have added these contact numbers for Qwest and PSE to our contact page.(see link on the right)  You can use these numbers to report service outages due to construction activities.  Please call if you have an outage, as it may be affecting only you and often these problems are not realized by the workers.

• Qwest (residential)1800-573-1311
• Qwest (small business) 1800-954-1211
• PSE (1-888-225-5773 (select menu option #1))

Also, we are moving into a stormy fall/winter season. Muddy roads in the construction area can mean reduced traction. It can also mean power outages and debris on the roadways. Please remember that you must treat non-functioning signals as all-way stops. 

Update for the second week of November

SPECIAL NOTE: On Monday, Nov 15th, at between 7:30 and 8:00 AM, the traffic signal at Henderson Blvd will be powered off so that so work can be done safely. It will remain off throughout the day. Traffic flow will be handled by traffic control personnel .  Please plan for extra travel time, especially during peak traffic hours.




The project prime contractor, Woodworth and Company, continues to install new sewer, water and storm water pipe on Yelm Highway and associated side streets.  Currently they are installing a deep sewer installation on Brassfield Drive as well as a second crew on Yelm Highway near Village Drive.  Independent utility contractors, Qwest, (phone) and Pilchuck, (natural gas) continue to install new facilities between Boulevard Road and Brassfield Drive.

The majority of the utility trenches that were temporarily asphalt patched with a product called "EZ Street cold patch", have been replaced with a permanent asphalt product which holds up much better during the inclement weather and does not pot hole as easily with the heavy traffic flows.

Please continue to drive slow and safely thru the work zone and obey the directions and guidance given by the traffic control flagging crew.

All local business establishments will remain open during construction, please use caution when entering and leaving these locations.


Please be courteous and allow drivers to exit and enter side streets.   

Photos and content courtesy of K. Whyte,  Assistant Project Coordinator

Project Update for November 4th, 2010

Rainier Valley, subcontractor for Qwest phone, is potholing for existing utilities today on Yelm Hwy, and will likely be boring under the road tomorrow at the Boulevard intersection.  Pilchuck contractors, natural gas, will also be working in the Boulevard intersection and then near Laura street Friday and Saturday.  Woodworth will have two sewer crews working on Yelm Hwy near Brassfield, so traffic will become one-way, temporarily diverted to the gravel area across from the job shack location.  Additional traffic buttons were recently installed to help identify the traffic lanes where the existing paint has been wore off.

 

Please continue to drive slow and safely thru the work zone and obey the directions and guidance given by the flaggers.

 

All local business establishments will remain open during construction, please use caution when entering and leaving these locations.

For more frequent updates and traffic conditions follow us (YelmHighwayInfo) on Twitter (www.twitter.com)

 

Project Update, November 2nd 2010

Crews have crossed Yelm Highway near Brassfield and will continue working West on the sanitary sewer.

 

Beginning tomorrow work will begin down Brassfield.  The combination of large equipment and a narrow roadway may cause major traffic delays for traffic entering and exiting.  There will be notification of these delays if they happen and the contractor will do their best to provide an alternate means of parking along Yelm Highway so they are not delayed.