Traffic advisory: Union Pacific Railroad crossing work to close Kent streets

For the Reporter

Starting Saturday, Feb. 17, Union Pacific Railroad crews will reconstruct the roadway crossings on the railroad at South 212th, Meeker and Smith streets over the next several weeks.

Each crossing upgrade will require a full road closure for two days, so crews can remove and replace the existing crossing surface.

Road closures are scheduled as follows:

• South 212th Street: 5 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 17 to 5 a.m. Monday, Feb. 19

• Meeker Street: 5 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 20 to 5 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 22

• Smith Street: 5 a.m. Saturday, March 3 to 5 a.m. Monday, March 5

Roadway crossings of railroad tracks have an eight-to-10-year life span. Due to the design of the crossing surface, the railroad removes and reconstructs the entire crossing as a single unit.

City staff worked with Union Pacific to schedule the work on South 212th and Smith Streets over weekends when traffic volumes on these arterial streets are lower than weekdays. This also reduces the impacts to commuters and freight that depend on these two streets to cross the Kent Valley.

Union Pacific Railroad will have signed detour routes in place.

Please contact Union Pacific Railroad at 1-800-848-8715 with questions or concerns. Visit DriveKent.com to sign up for traffic alerts.