An $8 million road work project in North Renton could cause some headaches for commuters as all southbound lanes of Logan Avenue North between North Sixth Street and Cedar River Bridge (at Airport Way) will close through next summer so the city can replace the failing pavement.
Beginning Nov. 2, crews will replace the existing failing pavements in this corridor, create a continuoussidewalk with a landscaped buffer strip on the east side of Logan Avenue and install a new traffic signalat an improved intersection of North Third Street, with a new entry to the Renton School District (RSD)Memorial Stadium parking lot at this new intersection.
Logan Avenue North is considered a “principal arterial” by the city and carries an estimated 32,000 vehicles per day.
To maintain traffic flow and safety in the area during construction, two northbound lanes on Logan willremain open while the southbound lanes from North Sixth to Airport Way will be closed. Southbound Logan traffic will be primarily detoured to Park Avenue North, Bronson Way and South Second Street.
Access will be maintained in the northbound direction to all the properties, including the stadium. Aminimum of two driveways for all Boeing parking lots will always be accessible.
In addition, King County METRO has already rerouted southbound service on the F-Line has to ParkAvenue in anticipation of the detour, which will begin Nov. 2 and stay in effect through completion of theproject, currently scheduled for next summer.
According to the city, one of the additional benefits of the project will be safer access to the stadiumparking lot, not only by making a signaled intersection an entry into the lot, but also by removing severalplanting islands inside the lot near this entry to enhance bus mobility. Additionally, the existing drivewayinto this lot directly north of the bridge will be removed, eliminating entry access at this location.
The City has worked in partnership with RSD to finalize design of these improvements, as it has withBoeing and other “stakeholders” such as the North Renton Neighborhood Association and franchiseutilities (Puget Sound Energy, telephone, cable providers, etc.).
The project will also install street lights on the east side of Logan. This lighting installation and thesidewalk improvements will require modifications to Boeing Parking Lot E7 (formerly Lot 11- betweenLogan and Burnett Avenues and North 4th and North 6th streets) including relocation of Boeing ParkingLot lights and reduction of parking spaces in the lot. Boeing and the City have been workingcooperatively to minimize the impacts to the public and Boeing employees both during and afterconstruction.
Work in the Boeing parking lot is tentatively scheduled to start in mid-December. The current plan is tospend the Fall doing underground utilities work (storm drains, water lines and electrical andcommunications conduit and cable), primarily on the east side of Logan. A storm drain crossing will alsobe put in just north of the bridge, and a water line will be replaced in North 4th Street between Loganand Burnett).
The total project cost, including planning, design, and construction management, is approximately $8million, 70 percent of which is coming from the Washington State Transportation Improvement Boardand Federal grants. The engineering firm Perteet Inc., which did the design, will also be managing theconstruction. Johansen Excavating of Buckley was awarded the contract to do the improvements.
