Mount Baker Highway east of Bellingham readied for opening soon, WSDOT says
.JPG "Construction workers pour concrete on the new bridge on the Mount Baker Highway in an undated photo from summer 2023.")
Mount Baker Highway, which has been closed east of Bellingham since early June, is expected to open in early October, the Washington State Department of Transportation said.
WSDOT spokeswoman RB McKeon said the current plan is to open the highway, called State Route 542, “at the beginning of October,” in a tweet Friday and in an email to The Bellingham Herald.
“We are just over 80% of the way done with work crews need to complete in order to reopen SR 542. Once the highway is open, there will still be work to finish on the overall project before it is considered complete, which will happen later this year,” McKeon told The Herald.
Mount Baker Highway closed June 5 between Britton and Noon roads for an $8.8 million project to widen a culvert where Squalicum Creek flows under the road, allowing easier passage for migrating and spawning salmon.
It’s part of statewide efforts to boost stream flow because of a 2013 court ruling that said the state must protect salmon runs under treaties with its Indigenous people.
No data was immediately available regarding traffic counts on Mount Baker Highway at Britton Road. But Sunset Drive east of Orleans Street carried 25,000 cars daily in 2007, according to the Whatcom Council of Governments.
It’s the only road from Bellingham into the North Cascades wilderness for hikers and campers, and the main commuter route for those who live in communities east of the city.
A detour around the project angered many local residents, who criticized the route at several Whatcom County Council meetings.
WSDOT officials knew the project would be an inconvenience and tried to keep neighbors and travelers informed through its project website and social media updates.
“Things have gone pretty much as planned during construction – when we started the project we anticipated a full roadway closure of around 105 days. The project itself is 125 working days and we will fall somewhere within that window,” McKeon said.
Construction worders removed the existing road and dug down about 60 feet to build the new 105-foot bridge. and the bridge we are constructing is 105 feet long. That takes a lot of planning, coordination, and of course time.
“Over the past three months of construction, crews did encounter some unique soil conditions and that extended some of the work we had to do. We also have had a few days of unexpected weather,” McKeon said.
This story was originally published September 8, 2023 at 11:46 AM.
