Crews working on the US 97 Butler Creek Wildlife Connectivity project nine miles north of Goldendale shifted all traffic to a temporary bypass road on Tuesday.

Drivers can expect narrow lanes and a width restriction while traveling the bypass road, which will be in place until the end of the year. Vehicles between 12 and 16 feet wide must have three pilot cars.

The speed limit on this section of US 97 remains 35 mph throughout construction. Drivers should use caution when traveling through the work zone.

Shifting traffic allows crews to remove the existing culvert underneath US 97 and build a new wildlife connectivity bridge over Butler Creek.

The bridge will help reduce the number of collisions involving wildlife by creating a channeled crossing for animals to cross underneath the highway. Crews will also improve fish habitat by removing the existing fish barrier culvert and widening the stream bed.

Stay in the loop on construction-related traffic impacts by visiting WSDOT’s travel alerts and Southwest Region construction update web pages.

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