Welcome to Skagit County

March 25, 2004

CONSTRUCTION WILL CLOSE ONE LANE OF SR 11, CHUCKANUT DRIVE

REVISED – Construction will begin Wednesday, March 31. One lane will be closed during day light hours, between 6 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

BELLINGHAM – The Washington State Department of Transportation will begin construction next week on scenic State Route 11, better known as Chuckanut Drive. Crews will close one of two lanes to replace culverts and improve the drainage system.

Starting Wednesday, March 31 Chuckanut Drive will be reduced to one lane for two months between 6 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. There will be no lane closures on weekends and the highway will never be completely closed to traffic during construction. Flaggers will alternate traffic through the construction zone. Motorists should expect traffic delays of 20 minutes.

WSDOT will replace 22 culverts between the Whatcom County Line, south of Larrabee State Park, and the Bellingham City line, south of Fairhaven to prevent flooding on the highway. Existing culverts are deteriorated, cracked and broken, and need to be replaced.

This $880,600 project will also repair damaged guardrail, repave and paint-stripe the highway to increase motorist safety. Paving and paint-striping are weather dependent. Construction is expected to be complete by June 1, 2004.