At 7 a.m. Saturday morning, the road crew, who are working 12 hour shifts at 22^nd Avenue in Spanaway were getting a bit tired and sore. The flagger on 22^nd Avenue was resting on the tailgate of her pickup. She said not as many cars are turning around this morning. Apparently we in Spanaway handle closed roads better in the daylight. The cars turning around were farther up the road.

The road is closed to all but construction and emergency vehicles. Apparently the County Fire Marshall wanted to come through last night. He found out he also got to use the detour. In reality, 22^nd Avenue is a 2.5 foot hole right now. No one should think they can make that work with a regular vehicle. You are being re-routed to expedite the project and for your own safety.

Speaking with a county project engineer, the north side of 176^th on 22^nd Avenue is going to be lowered 6 inches from the previous elevation. Right now, it’s 2.5 feet lower as they adjust it for the new grade.

Most of the sidewalk is already poured. They are using the new porous concrete that keeps the sidewalk from puddling. This reporter loves it because it keeps pedestrians from splashing water on themselves as they walk. The engineer complained of it being hard to keep clean. They tested this in the Sprinker Recreation Center parking lot and it is growing moss in the crevices. This will be interesting to follow up on in a year or so.

The mountain was lovely in the background of the photos, I will digress and editorialize for a moment that the new two story houses in the neighborhood ruined what used to be a magnificent view of the mountain from that location. This is something that county planning doesn’t account for enough as they splatter the region with growth.

The Post will return Saturday evening to see if the newly leveled road bed is graveled and ready for asphalt. The usually finicky northwest weather is cooperating nicely. Asphalting requires the sunny dry conditions.