Top 10 stories of 2014 bonus story: Long wait, much improved road

Published 4:23 pm Tuesday, December 23, 2014

The fact that state grants covered the bulk of the $1.4 million road project is a benefit that can’t be denied. Nevertheless, the prolonged reconstruction of Blair Avenue won’t soon be forgotten, as it put the patience of most islanders, and just about anybody else who drove through Friday Harbor from August until late November, to the test.

Home to one of busiest intersections in town, where traffic to and from the post office, middle and high schools, Islanders Bank, and myriad other businesses regularly converge, Blair Avenue also proved to be encumbered by an unexpected, bewildering patchwork of underground utility piping, conduits and wires, often inter-mixed or entangled by roots, rocks and clay. Sorting out that subterranean puzzle and reinstalling utilities proved to be ground-zero of the project’s three-month delay.

The avenue reopened in late November, with brand new curbs, gutters, sidewalks, street signs, lamp posts and guard rails, and, best of all, a real smooth surface.

“We appreciate the community’s patience throughout this project,” town Administrator Duncan Wilson said on the eve of a Dec. 17 ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new and improved avenue. “While it was at times inconvenient, the final product was certainly worth the wait.”

Next up for the town and its road reconstruction plans? Tucker Avenue.