Paving work done on Liberty Lake’s Harvard Road bridge, I-90 on-ramps

Construction work on the Harvard Road Bridge over Interstate 90 is nearly finished to the likely relief of Liberty Lake residents.

The Washington Department of Transportation widened the bridge, adding a second northbound lane.

In addition to the bridge work, the department lengthened and realigned the westbound on-ramps. There are two on-ramps, one each for southbound and northbound Harvard Road drivers.

Ryan Overton, the DOT’s eastern region spokesman, said lengthening the on-ramps improves safety, in part by giving drivers more time to get up to 60 mph before merging onto the interstate.

Construction crews did paving work from Aug. 8 until early September. For a few weeks southbound Harvard Road drivers couldn’t merge onto the westbound interstate ramp and had to use the Barker Road on-ramp instead.

Overton said the project isn’t completely done, but the remaining work won’t require any daytime closures and the bulk of the inconvenience is over.

“We appreciate everyone’s patience,” he said.