Work wraps up on Birch Bay-Lynden Road overpass of I-5

Nearly a year after the Birch Bay-Lynden Road overpass above Interstate 5 was damaged, repairs are finished.

The $813,000 project, paid for with federal emergency relief and state dollars, took about four months to complete. Crews picked up the orange construction barrels Wednesday morning, April 20, the last touch in wrapping up the project.

On May 21 last year, an excavator being hauled on a flatbed truck struck the overpass, causing significant damage to a girder. The overpass remained open, but traffic has been limited to one lane since January as workers chipped out the damaged girder, replaced it with a new one and poured a new concrete deck.

“We’re excited to get this project finished and have the overpass go back to two lanes,” said Washington State Department of Transportation Project Engineer Jason Koreski in a press release. “We want to thank drivers for their patience while traffic was limited to one lane during construction.”

The project came in on time and on budget. The WSDOT planned to seek repair reimbursement from the trucking company, but the status of that effort was not available Wednesday.

Debbie Townsend

This story was originally published April 20, 2016 at 4:29 PM with the headline "Work wraps up on Birch Bay-Lynden Road overpass of I-5."