AGNEW — A 200-foot section of Dryke Road will be closed starting today to allow crews to rebuild its intersection with U.S. Highway 101.

The closure at the south end of the Clallam County road will begin at 7 a.m. today.

The closure is scheduled to remain in effect until about 6 p.m. Friday.

“We will do our best to get things done ahead of time,” said Bill Trodahl, construction supervisor with the state Department of Transportation.

Motorists are advised to use Carlsborg Road or Old Olympic Highway as alternate routes to Robin Hill Farm, Solmar and other Dryke Road locations.

The Dryke Road intersection is being rebuilt as part of the state’s $27.1 million widening of U.S. Highway 101 from two lanes to four lanes between Port Angeles and Sequim.

Crews last week rebuilt the intersection of the highway and Kitchen-Dick Road.

The Seattle-based contractor Scarsella Bros. Inc. continues to pave new lanes for the highway on the east end of the 3.5-mile project.

The new lanes will serve westbound-only traffic in the final configuration.

The long-awaited safety project broke ground in January 2013.

It is on budget and still scheduled to be finished by the end of this year, Trodahl said.

Once completed, eastbound and westbound traffic will be separated by a 32-foot median to reduce the chances of head-on wrecks.

Crews this summer are building a second new bridge over McDonald Creek where a wooden trestle bridge had stood since 1939.

The widening project will provide two lanes of travel in both directions all the way from Port Angeles to Sequim.

The 45 mph speed limit during construction will be raised to 55 mph when the project is finished.

Businesses along the highway remain open during construction.

________

Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.