Downtown detour in Gig Harbor could end early … and it may not. Here’s why
Drivers might see traffic open up in both directions on Harborview Drive a few weeks sooner than planned.
The Gig Harbor City Council approved a change order that would give the contractor an incentive, $5,000 a day up to $75,000, to get work done that would end the detour early.
Crews started work on the project at the intersection of Harborview and Stinson last fall, paused for winter, and resumed Feb. 28. They closed Harborview Drive southbound from North Harborview Drive to Stinson Avenue, putting a detour in place for southbound traffic.
“At the beginning of this year, the city started working on a public outreach campaign to inform the businesses and the residents and the traveling public about the upcoming phase two work,” Public Works Director Jeff Langhelm said at the March 14 council meeting. “We started getting the word out in early February, and as soon as we got the word out we started to hear questions, concerns from the businesses and the residents about the impacts that they’re going to be seeing.”
He said the city has held several meetings so far with local businesses and residents about those concerns, which led to the proposed incentive. The council voted 7-0 to approve it.
The idea is to get the roundabout paved sooner and reduce how long the detour will be in place.
“We’re proposing to do that by incentivizing the contractor to work longer shifts and work more days,” Langhelm told the council. “The contractor’s original schedule shows the detour would be ending on June 9, and I want to be clear, that’s not the project ending on June 9, that’s the detour ending on June 9.”
‘There’s no guarantee’
Ending the detour early means drivers would be able to use the roundabout during non-construction hours, he said, but there’d be one-lane, alternating traffic during the work day.
“If the contractor does take advantage of all of the money available to them, the change order would have that detour removed three weeks ahead of schedule, so that would put it into about mid-May,” Langhelm said. “I do want to be clear, again, that this change order is not changing the anticipated physical completion that we’ve been talking about all along in July of 2022.”
Council member Roger Henderson also emphasized that the incentive isn’t a guarantee.
“I support this,” he said at the meeting. “I do want to maybe help set some expectations, though.”
It could be that the contractor isn’t able to get the work done any sooner, he pointed out. Or the contractor could finish a day early, which would pay $5,000. Or maybe they do finish 15 days early and get the full $75,000.
“I just want to make sure that people understand that there’s no guarantee that they will finish early,” Henderson said. “It’s an incentive, which is an excellent idea, but I just want to make sure people don’t start looking at dates and saying: ‘Okay, we’re paying $75,000 to get it done by this date,’ because it may not happen that way.”
Weather delays can also play a role, he noted, and are factored into the contract.
“It’s the best we can do, and I applaud you for coming up with this solution,” Henderson said about the incentive.
Council member Jeni Woock raised the issue of whether the contractor would be interested in the incentive in the first place.
Langhelm said yes, that the contractor had signed the change order.
“In fact, they even started working out on Fridays, which is not in the contract,” he told the council. “… They worked last Friday and they worked a full, long day, so they’re already starting on this, trying to achieve a shorter duration.”
Council member Le Rodenberg asked about the Maritime Gig Festival the first weekend in June.
Langhelm said the contractor knows to clear the intersection that weekend to make it available for the parade.
“We have already spoken with the contractor at length that if they’re out in the roadway, they need to be clear of that intersection for the entire weekend, have the intersection clear and available for the parade to occur,” he said.
Local businesses open
The detour has been difficult for downtown business owners. Many have said they hope the detour ends before the busy summer tourist season.
“We’ve seen our business pretty much staying the same in the evenings, but in the daytime it’s been a little bit more affected,” said John Ross, the owner of Millville Pizza at 3409 Harborview Dr. “… It’s nice to see the city of Gig Harbor stepping up to do something to push this along.”
A post on the city’s Facebook page March 15 showed a photo of a “Local businesses open” sign at Harborview and North Harborview, and reminded residents that they can keep driving for 300 feet after the sign to access businesses there.
A video posted to the Facebook page March 11 showed Mayor Tracie Markley shopping downtown, and she encouraged others to do the same.
“As you can see, traffic is flowing very, very well down here,” she said, “… Even with the detour, things are going well. I love seeing that it’s getting busier down here. We need to keep that up.”
