Bike lanes will be added in downtown Anacortes as part of repaving Commercial Ave. between Second and Eleventh streets before Memorial Day weekend.
The City Council approved, at a special Wednesday meeting, a $660,000 contract for the repaving work which will also include repaving Ninth and Tenth streets between O and Q avenues as well as Third and Eighth streets between Commercial and Q Ave..
The action came at a special meeting because the city’s contractor needed preparation time to get the work done after the Tulip Festival and before the Friday before Memorial Day weekend in order to avoid increased tourist traffic.
As part of the project, Commercial will be re-striped with five-foot bike lanes on both sides to be located between curbside parking spaces and center lane vehicle traffic. In addition, crosswalks will be re-striped to meet state DOT standards. As one city employee told the Council, they will change from the current “ladder” striping to what he called “piano key” striping.
The re-paving will include grinding down the top 2 inches of pavement before laying new asphalt.
The City Council also approved on Wednesday a project to build curbs and sidewalks along Third St. between Commercial and Q Aves. at a cost of $111,000. The Third St. project needs to be completed before the re-paving project can start.
The paving will be done by Colacurcio Brothers Construction and the Third St sidewalk and curbs project will be done by Larry Brown Construction.