By guest blogger Mike Westbay

There’s nothing quite like the Central Washington State Fair for getting reacquainted with old friends, sharing deep-fried foods and viewing exhibits.

For at least ten years, our volunteers have hosted two fair booths in Yakima, both inside the Sundome and outside among the vendors and food booths. Large, full-color posters of highway construction and maintenance projects always attract attention and help get conversations started.

Our fair booths are a personal way to show and tell what we do and how drivers benefit from the gas tax they pay at the pump.

Tanya Martinez and Chris Kroll, WSDOT volunteers, greet fair booth visitors at the Sundome in Yakima.

This year our fair booth volunteers talked with fair visitors from all walks of life about how the featured projects (I-90, SR 410 and US 97) affect their families, their businesses and their commutes to work and school.

The most often asked question about the projects is “When will it be done?” Some were disappointed to hear that the US 97 Satus Creek Bridge replacement and US 97 wildlife crossing bridge projects would take another season to complete because of delays due to high fire danger. But many were pleasantly surprised to learn that the new section of SR 410, around the landslide in the Nile Valley, was already completed ahead of schedule and under budget.

Opening the new section of SR 410 around the landslide is a popular topic. This leads to conversations about where people were and what they were doing when the landslide buried the highway, destroyed homes and flooded farms. Cabin owners expressed appreciation for opening the new route ahead of schedule and for shortening their drive to the nearest store and restaurant from 15 to six minutes.

Most booth visitors wanted to know how we are planning to replace the old snowshed on I-90 where most of the avalanches happen. Many were interested to learn the contractor is proposing to save long-term maintenance costs by building bridges instead of a larger snowshed so that avalanches can slide underneath the highway.

Fairgoers visit the WSDOT fair booth at the Yakima Sundome.

Concrete pavement was also a hot topic. Most comments were about how nice and smooth the new pavement is near Easton and how rough the old pavement is. Funny and far-out guesses were offered again and again about the mysterious “three slots” in the wheel paths of the right lane on I-90 and I-82. Of course, the brief answer of “dowel bar retrofitting” was not acceptable.

In-depth explanations of how and why polymer-coated steel dowel bars strengthen the old pavement were necessary. Even after much debate, one gentleman stuck to his idea that uranium fuel rods were being placed in the roadway to melt the snow.

Attendance at the fair was down at first, likely due to the thick smoke in the air from nearby forest fires. As the smoke cleared, fairgoers came streaming in and in the end, attendance surpassed last year’s count.

Conversations are the key to this effort’s success. This year, the comments were mostly positive about our work nearby and across the state. Many visitors took time to stop and thank us for a job well done.

By guest blogger Summer Derrey

A sharp corner and narrow shoulders leave  little room to navigate the Satus Creek Bridge.

US 97 cuts through the shrub-covered steppe in south central Washington, just south of Toppenish. The highway weaves around the rolling foothills that are checkered by sagebrush. Signs on the winding 65 mph highway warn the traveler to slow down to 55 at Satus Creek. The 132-foot bridge over Satus Creek has shoulders less than two-feet wide on each side, leaving little room for error.

About four collisions per year take place on or around the bridge. About half of the wrecks are due to motorists bumping into the guardrail.

It’s time to tear down the 70-year old wooden artifact and replace it with a bridge that suits today’s drivers.

US 97 is worthy of repair because the popular freight corridor is the shortest route between Yakima and Portland. It’s the only north to south route on the Yakama Indian Reservation. US 97 intersects with Interstate 84 in Biggs, Oregon. From there, motorists can go east to Pendleton, or west to The Dalles, Hood River and beyond.

We are working with contractor William Charles West of Kennewick, this spring, summer and fall to replace the bridge in (basically) three steps:

1. Build a detour around the existing bridge.
2. Remove the old bridge.
3. Build the new bridge.

The new bridge will hold heavier loads, will be 48 feet longer, and will have wider lanes with a little more breathing-room on the shoulders. Crews will also repave sections of US 97 half a mile north and a mile and a half south of the bridge, expand lanes and shoulders, and improve sight distance.

Like all warmer-weather construction projects, there will be delays. In the spring, motorists will wait up to 15 minutes, and in the summer, drivers may be delayed a bit longer, so pack your patience.

A lengthy detour route is available, so consider the extra time and miles compared to the estimated delays on US 97. Southbound motorists can head east on State Route 22 toward Prosser, and then take SR 221 south to the intersection with SR 14 in Paterson. From there, drivers can either travel east to cross the Columbia River on I-82 into Umatilla, Oregon or west to cross the river on US 97 into Biggs, Oregon. Northbound motorists can use the same detour route, in reverse order. Signs will direct drivers through the detour.

In the fall, the waiting will be over. The smell of sage, the screech of the red-tailed hawk and the dust kicked up by the wild horses won’t be the only attractions in the valley. The new bridge will be a welcomed addition.