Project To Improve SR-17 Through Moses Lake Begins This Week

A project to make improvements on a portion of State Route 17 (SR-17) in Moses Lake is getting underway this week.

On Wednesday, a contractor with the Washington State Department of Transportation (DOT) will begin working to pave just over five miles of the highway from its intersection with Patton Boulevard to the junction of Interstate 90 (I-90).

DOT spokesperson, Sebastian Moraga, says the project will also include ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) updates at five major intersections.

"We're going to replace the existing curb ramps and update the signals at those intersections. We're also going to update the pedestrian push-button systems and the detection systems, so it's going to be quite a bit safer for those who rely on those technologies."

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The updates will happen at Broadway Avenue and Pioneer Way, as well as Nelson, Stratford, and Wheeler Roads.

Moraga says the work will create intermittent pedestrian detours, along with some impacts to vehicle traffic.

"There'll be two temporary detours, one at the intersection of I-90 at Exit 179 and the other will be near the intersection of Stratford Road and SR-17. There's going to be single-lane closures on the highway, as well as flagger-controlled traffic."

Most of the work will take place at night between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m., Monday through Friday.

The project is scheduled to take 70 working days and is expected to be wrapped up by sometime in July.