PORT ANGELES — Another day of detours for the Lauridsen bridge area is slated for Monday so crews can complete installation of new traffic lights at Race Street and Lauridsen Boulevard as part of the $4.5 million replacement of the bridge.
Barring any wet weather, detours are slated to start today at about 7 a.m., be eliminated for the weekend and be back in place Monday, said city project manager Jim Mahlum on Thursday.
Work is expected to take all day today and Monday, he added.
On both days, southbound traffic on Race Street will be detoured east on Ninth Street, then south on Washington Street to Park Avenue, then west to return to Race Street.
Northbound traffic on Race Street will be detoured east on Park Avenue to Washington Street, then north to Ninth Street and west to Race Street.
New traffic lights
Crews contracted with Kent-based Scarsella Bros. Inc. will work today and Monday to install new traffic lights at the Race-Lauridsen intersection.
The span across Peabody Creek was poured by Port Angeles-based Angeles Concrete in February.
Mahlum said Thursday that remaining work includes pouring the sidewalks and installing safety railings lining the bridge sides and extending along Race Street.
He said the replacement is expected to be done by mid-April, pushed back from an original finish date expected in February.
“Weather, and the contractor is behind his schedule,” Mahlum said when asked what has caused the delays.
He could not say specifically why Scarsella is behind schedule, though he said the contractor completing both the Deer Park underpass project for Clallam County and the U.S. Highway 101 widening work for the state Department of Transportation could be a factor.
“I just know they are behind schedule,” Mahlum said, adding that the project is still within budget.
A federal grant is funding 80 percent of the $4.5 million project, with the city providing the remaining 20 percent of the cost.
Once completed, the new Lauridsen bridge will include two 12-foot-wide vehicle lanes, an eastbound center turn lane and two 5-foot-wide bicycle lanes.
The driving surface will be 18 feet wider than the 44-year-old bridge being replaced, which was demolished in August, and the new bridge’s sidewalks will be wider than the old ones.
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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
