11 weeks in the making: West Beach Road construction is now finished

— from Jacob Heinen for San Juan County Public Works —

West Beach Road was opened up to the public on Tuesday evening after 11 weeks of construction.

The guardrails were installed by M2 Industrial on the 4th and asphalt paving was provided by Lawson Construction on the 7th. Tuesday and Wednesday of this week were spent grouting catch basin lids, re-grading the disturbed areas, and applying topsoil and erosion control measures.

The Orcas Road Crew has installed guardrail reflectors and will monitor the centerline delineators until permanent striping is painted in the spring. The Environmental Resources Department will oversee the planting effort sometime in the near future to vegetate the site.

Public Works would like to thank the West Beach community for their patience. The aluminum culvert and MSE wall shouldn’t need to be replaced for roughly 75 years.

Thanks again to Mike Carlson Enterprises for their great work. This was a challenging project— from excavating in heavy rains, preserving the substantial cedar trees, realigning the creek, and building an interlocking retaining wall system. We look forward to another successful project together.