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Roads Division switches gears in fall As
the weather turns cooler and rainy, local residents are busy replacing
furnace filters, raking leaves, winterizing vehicles, and gearing up for
a change in seasons.At this time of year, employees with the King County Road Services Division are engaged in many of the same activities. Roads projects and paving must be completed before the rain falls and the salmon swim upstream. New winter equipment has to be prepped to go into service. And, those same pesky leaves need to be cleared from storm drains and catch basins to prevent local flooding. “Fall is a busy time throughout our division,” said Rick Brater, manager of the Engineering Services Section. “For those of us on the construction side, we are getting things wrapped up before the fish windows close and before bad weather sets in.”  When
working on road projects near streams and rivers, crews have to get the
job done within a certain timeframe known as the “fish window.” This is
the period the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) will
allow work in or near fish habitat areas. The fish window usually runs
from July 15 to Sept. 15, and it's the time when construction causes
minimal impacts to fish migration and spawning cycles.Brater says mid-September is usually the cut-off date on work near rivers and streams, but the deadline is different for different species and the different river systems in King County. The project to raise Northeast 124th Street across the Snoqualmie Valley floodplain had to be completed by August of this year, but crews will be able to work on completion of the Harris Creek Bridge replacement near Duvall throughout October.  “Each
drainage basin has its own unique calendar for fish activity, so each
Roads project has its own timeline, too,” he said.The start of school also presents a deadline of sorts for the Roads Division. The School Pathway Program is a collaborative effort between King County and the county’s 14 public school districts and dozens of accredited private schools. Each spring, the process starts when the districts submit a list of potential pathway projects based on their prioritized needs. Projects are selected based on the priority rating given by the school district, cost, location, size and feasibility. These projects are completed over the summer, so that they are ready to be used by students when the new school year starts. Projects that have just been completed include: ● A new walkway on Northeast 180th Street west of 88th Avenue Northeast near Bothell High School; ● Pathways on both sides of Southeast 196th Street near Glenridge Elementary in the Kent School District; ● Curbing to separate walkers and car traffic on Northeast 133rd Street near Wilder Elementary in Woodinville; ● Flashing lights in the crosswalk in front of Fall City Elementary; and ● A walkway for Benson Hill Elementary students along Southeast 184th Street southeast of Renton. Staffers from the county's Traffic Engineering Section have also been busy working with school officials and school district representatives to ensure a safe travel environment for both the motorists and pedestrians alike. This year, the following schools either opened or reopened in unincorporated King County: Pacific Cascade Freshman Campus in Issaquah; Cottage Lake Elementary in Woodinville; Mount View Elementary in White Center; Federal Way Middle School; Chief Kanim Middle School in the Snoqualmie Valley; Lindberg High School Commons in Renton; and Auburn High School. To help get these schools opened, traffic engineers reviewed and approved the traffic plans, approved variances, inspected traffic control hardware, installed traffic control devices, and coordinated with staff at the county’s Department of Development and Environmental Services. In the Roads Maintenance section, the work is always seasonal. Winter is focused on snow and ice removal. Spring is heavy on winter storm clean-up. Summer is for repairs and replacing under-road culverts. And, fall is the time for a little bit of everything. “In the fall, we’re finishing all the projects we started in spring and summer. We’re ordering supplies for winter and getting the snow and ice equipment ready for the road. And, we have a big street-sweeping program underway to get all the leaves away from the storm drains,” said Maintenance Superintendent Tony Ledbetter. New equipment that will be put into service in the coming weeks includes four new trucks with interchangeable parts so that each vehicle can tackle multiple duties. They can be a tanker truck, dump truck, anti-icer truck , or sander depending on the need at hand. This is also the time that Ledbetter begins the complicated process of creating a staffing plan for the bad-weather months, so that the Maintenance section has 24/7 coverage for all parts of the county. “We’re also going over all of the snow and ice routes to make sure we have staff and equipment to keep traffic moving safely on all high-priority roads in the unincorporated areas,” said Ledbetter. “Even though it’s only September, our goal is to always be well-prepared well before the bad weather sets in.” |
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