May Creek Bridge Update

Coal Creek Parkway:
The May Creek Bridge has taken a big step toward completion: it closed Coal Creek Parkway for three days.

That’s right, the construction crew decided it was just going too smoothly and they closed the road. They’re setting the large beams for the northbound half of the new bridge and they were afraid the public might get in the way.

It looks like the plan is to finish the north lanes and move the road over so drivers will use that side while the southbound lanes are built. That means further closures as they accomplish each phase. Plus random closures just to keep us on our toes.

Glen, the Lake Boren Carp, swims down the outlet creek and culverts to review the construction several times a week. The huge cranes that were moved into place for the beam setting phase were a shock to him. When he first saw them sticking up in the air he thought they were gigantic fishing poles. But that evaporated when he saw how slowly they move.

In fact the whole construction crew moves pretty slowly. He told me that on Wednesday there were five times as many people in suits and hard hats standing on the old bridge as there were working on the new one. That’s why the old bridge was closed to traffic: gives the suits a place to stand and watch.

Traffic reporters have taken two approaches to the closure. One says the traffic on I-405 is extra heavy because of the overflow from Coal Creek Parkway. The others ignore it because it’s not a freeway. Our local traffic reporters have decided they only need to report on freeways and not much else matters. Makes it a lot easier to report. The TV people have cartoons of the freeways shown as marching ants. They use different colors to depict the speed of the ants. I guess if you watch TV in the early morning before coffee that makes sense.

On other sections of Coal Creek Parkway the excavation of the hillside on the east shoulder continues. From the plans on the project web site it looks like the road will be moved that way some to straighten it. The intersection will be moved to the north and east which means a big culvert replacement. That outlet creek may not be large but it is relentless. Glen makes sure it always flows. Therefore to change the road location a new large culvert will have to be installed.

The outlet creek kind of ambles along at SE 89th Place into a culvert and then makes a sharp left on the south side of the street. I bet the project changes that to install a very large culvert that gives it a straight shot. I don’t make much money betting so it’ll be interesting to see what they really do. Right now it’s just a dirt moving project. Big orange things are pushing dirt around as dump trucks come and go 24 hours a day. If you like the smell of diesel exhaust then it’s a nice place to be.

Al