Submitted by Washington State Department of Transportation
Construction crews working for the Washington State Department of Transportation will intermittently stop traffic in both directions of State Route 8 in McCleary between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 31, to deliver and place bridge girders. Each closure will delay traffic up to 15 minutes.
The girder delivery is the final of four such deliveries needed in WSDOT’s SR 8 Middle and East Forks Wildcat Creek fish barrier removal project. Cranes stationed in the closed lanes will lift girders from trucks briefly stopped in the travel lanes and onto a structure that will become a new bridge over East Forks Wildcat Creek. Rain will not affect the work, however unusually high winds could delay delivery and placement of the girders.
Drivers are encouraged to add additional travel time to reach their destinations.
Correcting fish passage barriers is an important part of the state’s efforts to protect and restore fish runs negatively affected by outdated culverts under state highways. The project is expected to be complete by spring 2019.
Featured photo credit: Skip Radcliffe