Bypass work plows through winter
<p class="p1">This view from the air on Friday looks north along the route of the U.S. 93 bypass at its intersection with Three Mile Drive in west Kalispell.</p>
Local contracting firm LHC Inc. has been driving ahead with the U.S. 93 bypass project this winter, completing critical components of the project before the spring thaw.
“The big picture of the plan is coming together,” said Don Brummel, project manager at LHC.
This week, crews will begin construction on the gravity retaining walls on either side of the bypass near Three Mile Drive. The walls will help stabilize the existing bridge over the bypass as well as the earth on either sides of the future roadway.
Brummel said construction is right on schedule.
“It was two-fold — having the right equipment and favorable conditions to work in,” Brummel said.
Brummel said the biggest hurdle crews have surmounted is earthwork. Thanks to two massive scrapers (capable of moving 54 cubic yards at a time) and weather that hardly has touched subzero levels, LHC crews have moved 750,000 cubic yards of dirt since mid-October.
“That’s moving,” Brummel said.
Brummel said as part of the bypass contract, construction crews will have to halt earth-moving work that disrupts traffic until April, when dirt moving begins again around Three Mile Drive.
In the next week, Brummel said crews will begin placing a giant pedestrian culvert below the future bridge going over Old Reserve Drive. Once the culvert is installed, crews will begin building up the abutment and ramps before paving the section.
LHC is still hosting weekly update meetings at 5 p.m. every Tuesday at Glacier High School. For more information, call the LHC hotline at 758-6400.
Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at slarson@dailyinterlake.com.