If all goes as planned, the section of Russell Road that crosses Mill Creek should be opened by the end of this summer.

The road section has been closed for about 14 months due to a danger of it collapsing due to the failure of the culverts that Mill Creek flows through.

Work is slated to start about August 1, with the work expected to take no more than six weeks.

Exeltech Senior Project Manager Roger F. Horton held a roundtable meeting in the Forks City Council Chambers on Monday evening, March 5.

The City of Forks has secured $500,000 in federal transportation funding for the project. The figure includes the cost of design and construction.

Horton said design and planning for the project is almost to the stage where it can go out to bid by contractors. 

The design he unveiled at the meeting calls for placing seven 35-foot-long sections of steel atop pillars that will be driven down about 35 feet. Supporting the sections would also be three-sided pre-fab concrete box sections. While technically the culvert replacement would be called a box culvert, the system would work like a bridge.

For drivers the most notable change would be a slight bend in the road on the north side of Russell Road needed to realign the road and center it in that section.