Project Alert No. 26
Pioneer Way Reconstruction Project

November 21, 2011

Archaeologists Return Tomorrow for One Day of Testing

Tomorrow (Tuesday), a small team of archaeologists from Northwest Archaeological Associates will be back on Pioneer Way for additional testing on the north half of the street between Ireland and Ilwaco Streets. The purpose of the testing is to determine whether or not additional cultural materials might be present in the top 0-6 inches of soil where the sidewalks will be installed. Some soil needs to be removed in order to pour the sidewalks. Most of the testing will be concentrated near the Ireland and Ilwaco intersections and should take no more than one day to complete. There will be a short lane closure of about one hour at the Ireland Street intersection starting around 8:00 am.

Should additional human remains or other cultural materials be uncovered during the testing, it is likely that those specific areas will have to be hand excavated and screened by the archaeologists. We should know very soon how much, if any, hand excavation will be needed.

As a reminder, Strider Construction is scheduled to return to work on Pioneer Way during the week following the Thanksgiving holiday.

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