Madrona Way road work arrives

Motorists heading to Coupeville on Madrona Way can’t avoid road construction activities.

Work started this week on a $842,000 construction project to repair approximately 1,000 feet of Madrona Way between Highway 20 and Sherman Road.

Randy Brackett, construction engineer for Island County, said the repairs are necessary because the shoulder on the stretch has been dropping off.

“It hasn’t afailed but it’s approaching that,” Brackett said. It’s been a problem officials have been working on for more than 10 years.

To repair the road, construction crews are moving the curve 17 feet away from the existing alignment. They are also installing “micropiles”, which are 12-inches in diameter, and soil screws to reinforce the ground underneath the roadway, Brackett said.

He said the area provided some challenges in designing the the project. The stretch of road overlooks Penn Cove within Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve. Brackett said that added requirements to the project. The county also couldn’t get a permit for a bulkhead to help strengthen the shoreline.

The county needs the road because it is the only one parallel to Highway 20 in the area and it popular with locals and tourists alike as the scenic route to historic Coupeville.

Construction began this week and will go into the fall.

During the construction period, motorists can expect a single lane of Madrona Way to be closed. Then, later this summer, Madrona Way will close entirely to through traffic for 10 days. Brackett didn’t know exactly when that closure will take place.

The construction on Madrona Way is the latest road project in the area. Construction workers are busy replacing North Main Street in Coupeville.

Motorists wishing to avoid the road construction can get to downtown Coupeville by accessing Madrona Way on Broadway or Sherman Road.

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