Crews pave final section of northbound lanes

From ODOT-

We recently told you how crews built a new rock base as the foundation of the approach between the Canoe Canal Bridge and the northbound bridge and paved them with black asphalt. Since then, crews completed the lanes by pouring a layer of concrete “white” paving, and then grading and paving the road shoulders.

The black asphalt paving in the foreground, right, is sandwiched between the graded rock base and the final layer of conrete paving, being smoothed by a worker at left. The concrete is gray when it's poured but dries to a bright white when it is ready for traffic. 

As the paving machine distributes the "white" concrete, workers use pneumatic vibrators to remove trapped air pockets, then level and smooth the surface.

It may seem odd to finish the highway approaches before the bridge is done, but working from the outside in allows crews to ensure that the bridge deck aligns perfectly with the roadway. Plus, the completed approaches give contractors accesses to areas of the project site that are critical as work progresses.