205 W 5th Ave Ellensburg, WA 98926-2887
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Kittitas (pronounced 'KITT-i-tass') County is located in central Washington State. It spans from the lush forested Cascade Mountains to the upper Yakima River Valley plains and the Columbia River.
Kittitas County, WA - 11/02/2017 - Fairview Road will be closed Tuesday November 7th and Wednesday November 8th 2017 from 7:00 AM to 3:30 PM. The closures will be placed at the intersection of Fairview Road and Rader Road, and at the intersection of Fairview Road and Brick Mill Road. Local traffic only will be allowed around the closures as the road will be impassable in the vicinity of Coleman Creek, (approximately 0.20 miles north of Brick Mill Road and 0.70 miles South of Rader Road).
Bi-annual bridge inspections performed by the County for the three short span bridges crossing over Coleman Creek revealed serious structural damages at two of the stream crossing locations. The County immediately requested additional inspections from on-call consultant structural engineers who quickly validated the County inspector’s findings. The abutments at two of the bridges have failed with up to two inch cracks through the concrete. Additionally significant scour has occurred under the footings. The initial recommendations were to close this portion of Fairview Road until replacement structures could be installed or to close off the portion of the roadway where the failures have occurred with concrete barrier. Public Works recognizes the already undesirable narrow condition of this portion of roadway and the need to maintain this corridor with the higher average daily traffic exhibited (200 to 400 vehicles per day). Understanding this the Public Works Director, County Engineer and Maintenance Manager worked toward an alternative solution which resulted in the decision to span the existing bridges with steel road plates resting on buried ecology blocks. This will reduce the loading on the bridges and allow for the existing roadway width to be maintained, and for the road to safely remain open while replacement options are investigated. Fairview Road is a local access road resulting in local dollars from the County Road Fund likely bearing all costs for any work to fix the failed structures with no outside funding support. Public Works believes that ideally the permanent fix will include the realignment of Coleman Creek to eliminate two of the three bridges with one new bridge constructed over Coleman Creek. This project would also most likely include additional road widening to improve this stretch of Fairview Road. A project to replace these bridges and realign Coleman Creek is currently on the six year transportation improvement plan and was slated for construction in 2023. The estimated cost for the design, environmental permitting, and construction is approximately two million dollars. At this time the funding for this project is not known, but with the newly identified failures Public Works will attempt to find funding solutions and advance the project.
Kittitas County, from the Cascades to the Columbia, and online at http://www.co.kittitas.wa.us
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Contact: Kittitas County Public Works509-962-7523