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November 24, 2015
It's been snowing at Snoqualmie Pass, but that hasn't stopped crews from Guy F. Atkinson Construction from working on two multi-million-dollar projects to widen Interstate 90.
On Oct. 15 workers cleared away construction operations that affect traffic so that the state Department of Transportation has space for snow plowing and other winter activities at the pass.
Atkinson is now working on structural items under the first of two avalanche bridges at the site where a snowshed was removed in 2014. Crews are connecting grade beams that attach to bedrock and hold columns together.
Bob Adams, senior vice president of Atkinson's Northwest Region, said the goal is to make those connections before the level of Keechelus Lake rises. At some point, bad weather will mean crews can't work in the mountains until next spring.
The 1,200-foot-long avalanche bridges are part of a $200 million project to widen three miles of I-90 at the pass from four to six lanes. Adams said the first bridge should open in July 2016. Crews then will start the two-year process of building the second bridge.
Atkinson is also working on a $73 million contract to widen another 2.5 miles of the freeway. That job includes three eastbound and three westbound bridges over Unnamed, Price and Noble creeks, plus a wildlife overpass near Price Creek Rest Area.
Crews have begun casting concrete for the foundation of the westbound portion of the wildlife overpass. Adams said the goal is to finish that work by the end of the year.
Motorists will start seeing westbound tunnel sections for the overpass go in next September.
Adams said the plan is to finish all work at the pass by the end of the 2018 construction season.