Community Education Transportation
Purdy highway work will impact parking at Peninsula High
After being held up by winter and supply chain issues, work is expected to begin in March on replacing a fish-blocking culvert under the Highway 302 spur in Purdy.
During the work, the 302 spur will be closed around the clock for up to eight months while crews remove the old culvert and replace it with a new bridge. A detour will be via Purdy Lane, which must be repaved and shoulders improved to carry added traffic.
A temporary traffic signal will be placed at Purdy Lane and 144th Street. Paving and striping require dry weather, so timing can’t be locked in. WSDOT will update its project webpage with timelines as they become available.
Shoulder parking will no longer be available along Purdy Lane, near Peninsula High School, through the end of the 2023 school year and when classes resume in the early fall and winter. Full access to businesses will be maintained.
Highway 16 work nears midpoint
Work to replace culverts for Purdy Creek under westbound Highway 16 did get under way as scheduled in the fall and is approaching the halfway point.
Last fall, crews installed a temporary route around the work zone and shifted traffic into the median. Then they started building the bridge that is replacing the culvert.
Work on a fish passage project under Highway 16 at Purdy Creek.
Once they finish working on the westbound side next fall, they’ll shift traffic onto the new bridge, move the eastbound traffic to a temporary route through the median and repeat the process on the eastbound side of the highway.
Even with the delay in Purdy, the state is expected to complete the three culvert replacements within the original timeframe of two years.
Chum salmon in Purdy Creek near Highway 16.