Construction Alert No. 27
Pioneer Way Reconstruction Project

November 30, 2011

Construction Resumes on Pioneer Way

While their completion schedule is unpredictable due to the weather, it was encouraging to welcome Strider Construction back into town yesterday morning. With the forecast this week looking quite promising, we are hopeful that good progress can be made on the unfinished section between Ireland and Ilwaco Streets. Regrettably, there will be periodic street closures east of Hathaway but the street will always be open late afternoons and evenings, and of course on weekends. Strider is aware of the tree lighting and other festivities on Saturday and will work to make the site as safe and neat as possible.

Here is what we know at the moment about the sequence of work:

● Starting yesterday and continuing for the remainder of the week, the Strider crew will be bringing the road and curb areas to the grade needed to finish building the street. Some work will also be occurring in the sidewalk and planter areas to remove excess dirt and raise utility vaults to the required height.

● Weather permitting, curbs and gutters will be formed and poured next week. Unlike the earlier phases of the project, paving will happen before sidewalks and as soon as possible after the curbs and gutters are in place.

● Once the new asphalt is in place, Strider will complete preparation of the sidewalk areas before bringing the concrete subcontractor back to pour the sidewalks. Successful concrete work is highly dependent on favorable weather conditions so predicting the timing for this part of the job is the most problematic.

● Completion of the last section of handrail, adding topsoil and landscaping in the pots and planters and placing street amenities (benches, garbage cans, bike racks, street lights, etc.) will be scheduled once the sidewalks are installed.

Remaining Archaeological Work

While the vast majority of the Pioneer Way archaeological work has been completed, there are two tasks remaining besides the ongoing monitoring during construction. These tasks are described below:

● A relatively small triangle of hand excavation work is necessary directly in front of the Oak Harbor Tavern to complete the curve into the Ilwaco alley. This area could not be excavated inside the original fenced enclosure for the simple reason that it was underneath or just outside the fence. This work should be completed by Friday of this week.

● The top 4 inches of soil from a short section of the southern sidewalk area must be excavated by hand due to the proximity of known cultural resources.

Key City Contact People
Larry Cort
Project Manager
360 914-7107
lcort@oakharbor.org

Joe Stowell
Project Engineer
360 279-4520
jstowell@oakharbor.org

Rhonda Severns
City Utilities
360 914-7256
rhseverns@oakharbor.org