The busy two-block section of Sullivan Road that crosses Interstate 90 in Spokane Valley will be closed for three weeks in July while the roadways leading up to both sides of the overpass are replaced with concrete.


That project was one of four, altogether valued at more than $7 million, for which the Washington state Department of Transportation opened bids recently.


Spokane-based Acme Concrete Paving Inc., which bid $1.8 million for the Sullivan Road project, is the apparent low bidder for that work. The project includes replacing asphalt with concrete on the stretches of Sullivan that lead up to both sides of the overpass that carries the busy thoroughfare over I-90, says Robert Blegen, a DOT project engineer.


The bridge surface and approaches already are concrete, Blegen says. The roadways that will be replaced are between the approaches and Sullivans intersections with Mission Avenue to the south of the freeway and Indiana Avenue to the north. Those stretches of roadway include two lanes in each direction plus turn lanes.


Blegen says the intersections at Mission and Indiana will keep the asphalt surfaces they have now, and will be open during construction. Even though those intersections will remain open, the stretch of Sullivan between them, including the freeway overpass, will be closed from July 9 to July 31, Blegen says. During the project, work will go on around the clock, he says.


DOT regional spokesman Al Gilson says the primary detour route to direct traffic over the freeway while Sullivan is closed will be the overpass at Evergreen Road, about a mile to the west. Northbound drivers on Sullivan should use Broadway Avenue to reach Evergreen, while southbound drivers should use Indiana Avenue, Gilson says.


Separately, Acme Concrete also is the apparent low bidder on a contract to upgrade the northbound side of an 11-mile stretch of U.S. 195 south of Spokane, says Gilson. Acme bid $3 million for that work, which will occur from just north of where the highway divides and widens into four lanes, near Cornwall Road just north of Spangle, to Hatch Road, which intersects with U.S. 195 about five miles south of I-90.


Gilson says the work entails inserting concrete dowels into concrete panels that make up part of the northbound side of the highway in that stretch to prevent the panels from shifting, and repaving the asphalt sections of that stretch of highway. He declines to estimate when the project will start, but says it likely will take three and a half months to complete. During the project, traffic in the northbound lanes will be narrowed to one lane at certain times, he says.


The southbound leg of that stretch of roadway was done in 2003, Gilson says.


The third bid opened by the DOT here recently was for construction of a concrete intersection at Hastings Road and U.S. 395 in the Wandermere area north of Spokane. Cameron-Reilly LLC, of Airway Heights, is the apparent low bidder for that job, with a bid of about $1.1 million.


Gilson says a start date for the project hasnt been set yet, but the job will be done this year and will take more than two months to complete. He says flaggers and a variety of lane restrictions will direct traffic while that work is under way, but both Hastings and U.S. 395 will remain open.


In the fourth bid, Frank Gurney Inc., of Spokane Valley, was awarded a $1.2 million contract to do guardrail, signage, and safety upgrades at various locations on state Routes 21, 23, and 27 in Spokane, Adams, Franklin, and Lincoln counties, says Gilson. That work is scheduled to begin this month and is to be completed in mid-July, he says.


Contact Rocky Wilson at (509) 344-1264 or via e-mail at [email protected].