MONROE — A remedy for traffic jams at Blueberry Lane and Kelsey Street means some temporary pain for drivers.
Construction work starts Tuesday, Sept. 3. Southbound Kelsey traffic will be detoured onto Blueberry, and will need to turn right at King Street and right again at West Columbia Street to get back to Kelsey. Northbound traffic will be uninterrupted.
This detour lasts to Oct. 11.
To improve the intersection, the city is adding a left turn lane on northbound Kelsey approaching Blueberry and a receiving lane for drivers from Blueberry to hop onto Kelsey and merge in. The improvements also lengthen Kelsey’s northbound left turn lane at U.S. 2.
A new curb along Kelsey Street will prevent left turns into Denny’s or Rite Aid, and prevent left turns out of Rite Aid’s parking lot.
The curbs are a traffic control measure required to fit with the city’s eventual goal to make Monroe a “quiet zone,” where trains would no longer sound their horns to announce their presence at the city’s five rail crossings. The curb on Kelsey is to prevent drivers from driving around railroad crossing arms.
A flat triangle curb will go in the middle of the intersection to guide traffic turning at the Blueberry/Kelsey intersection.
Kelsey Street’s new left turn lane toward Blueberry will fit three or four cars.
Work is projected to take 11 weeks to complete, meaning it could be done a week after Halloween under this timeframe.
A future, second construction phase requires detouring all Kelsey Street traffic using Columbia Street, King Street and Blueberry Lane. This closure could take three weeks.
This road detour is to build the center flat curb in the intersection. Traffic would need to be diverted because there’s not enough space available to safely let cars pass next to the construction zone, a city engineer said previously.
Once its complete, through traffic on Kelsey Street should have a straight shot instead of having to wait for traffic turning onto Blueberry.
Drivers on Blueberry, meanwhile, will have to cross one lane of traffic onto their own lane on Kelsey Street instead of having to find a gap.
The Blueberry/Kelsey intersection is 300 feet from where Kelsey crosses U.S. 2.
Constructing the new curbs and repainting this section of road is estimated to cost up to $420,000. The construction contract is with Kamins Construction of Bothell for $322,093.
