On a weeknight this coming January, construction crews can start setting up on Samish Way at 8 p.m. At that hour Boomer's Drive-In still has an hour of posted service left, and El Agave has two. The City of Bellingham's schedule for the Samish Way Utility Replacements project calls for up to 130 working days of night work between Bill McDonald Parkway and E. Maple Street. Shifts run from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m., January through May 2027.
The City chose those hours to keep daytime traffic and business on the corridor moving. That shifts most of the disruption into the evening, when the strip's dinner spots are still open. It is also the first of two rebuilds lined up for the same road.
The Hours the City Chose, and Why
The City's project page states the reason directly. The night work is planned "to minimize impacts to businesses along the corridor." When the Bellingham City Council voted on the project on September 14, 2026, it also approved a separate noise variance. Whatcom Watch's record of that meeting summarizes it this way:
"Construction work in residential-zoned areas between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. requires a noise variance. To reduce disruptions to adjacent businesses and the public that rely on this corridor, work will need to be done at night."
The variance passed 7-0 and covers 130 days.
The two time windows explain the evening overlap. The City's work shift starts at 8 p.m., two hours before the 10 p.m. threshold that required the variance. On most nights, the variance covers the hours after the strip's dinner spots close. The two hours before 10 p.m. are when the corridor's evening businesses are still open, and lane reductions, bike detours and some pedestrian impacts begin then.
Where the Shift Overlaps Dinner
Samish Way is a commercial strip. The City's 2019 Samish Way Urban Village Plan describes its businesses as gas stations, hotels, restaurants and retail. Sehome Village, just south of the plan area, supplies grocery and other retail. Two of the corridor's long-running restaurants show where the night shift meets their dinner service.
| Business | Address | Posted closing time | Overlap with an 8 p.m. start |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boomer's Drive-In | 310 N Samish Way | 9 p.m. Mon–Thu and Sun, 10 p.m. Fri–Sat | One to two hours |
| El Agave Mexican Restaurant | 207 N Samish Way | 10 p.m. Sun–Thu, 11 p.m. Fri–Sat | Two to three hours |
The closing times come from each restaurant's own website and can change, so check before you drive over. For a weeknight burger or a Friday dinner, the late part of service is the part most likely to have lane reductions outside. The City's schedule does not say which block crews will be working on any given night. A crew working near Maple will look very different to a diner at 310 N Samish than one working down by Bill McDonald Parkway.
Daytime trips and lunches get the corridor's normal traffic pattern. That is the trade the council approved.
What Goes Into the Ground
According to the council action recorded by Whatcom Watch, the project replaces two mains with larger ones.
- Water: a 12-inch ductile iron main replaces the existing 6-inch cast iron main along Samish Way between Bill McDonald Parkway and E. Maple Street.
- Sewer: a 12-inch PVC sanitary sewer main replaces the existing 8-inch concrete main between Consolidation Avenue and Abbott Street.
Doubling a pipe's diameter gives it four times the cross-sectional area. For the water line, that means the corridor's supply moves from cast iron to a pipe with about four times the room inside.
The cost came in well under the City's estimate. Premium Services of Bellingham won the contract with a low bid of $3,677,652.89, paid from the City's Water and Wastewater Funds. The engineer's estimate had been $5,339,660, so the winning bid was about $1.66 million lower. The City received five bids, and the highest was $5,922,385. Both votes, on the contract and the noise variance, were 7-0.
Sequence Through Fall 2027
The Samish Way night work is one part of a longer run of projects on this road. Here is the order on the City's current schedules.
- November 2026, G Street and E. North Street. The project's first phase is on the other side of town. Wastewater main replacement was scheduled to start November 16 on G Street between Halleck and Irving Streets and on E. North Street between Cornwall Avenue and Ellis Street. That work happens in daytime, with single-lane and possible block closures, alley closures and "No Parking" signs.
- January through April 2027, the rest of G Street. Work on G Street between Irving Street and Cornwall Avenue and behind Hampton Place is likely to fall in this window because of material delays. Paving there is expected in spring.
- January through May 2027, Samish Way. This is the night work, with completion expected by May 2027.
- Late summer 2027, a second Samish Way contract. A separate City project will resurface the roadway, update bike facilities and upgrade lighting on Samish Way between Bill McDonald Parkway and Ellis Street. It is in design now, with the contract award expected in late summer 2027 and construction expected that fall.
Together, these steps rebuild the corridor from the bottom up. The pipes get replaced over the winter. A few months later, the second project resurfaces the street above them and adds new lighting and bike facilities. If you use Samish Way often, expect construction in both 2027 seasons: night work through spring, then the surface project starting in fall.
Our earlier look at Samish running on three different clocks covered the corridor's long-term timeline. Our explainer on what the Samish Way Urban Village means nearby covers the planning background. This winter's work is the first construction you can put a date on.
Getting Around While the Work Runs
The City lists a few impacts to plan for, along with places to check updates.
- Buses. Two WTA routes use the corridor. Route 5 runs Samish/Fairhaven and Samish/Downtown, and Route 7 runs Samish/WWU and Samish/Downtown. WTA posts service disruptions and detours on its rider notices page and through BusTracker. That is the place to check before an evening ride once January work begins.
- Bikes and sidewalks. The City's impact list for Samish Way includes bike detours and some pedestrian impacts during the night shifts. If you walk or ride home from a Samish Way dinner after 8 p.m., your usual route may not be open.
- Water and sewer service. Residents along Samish Way and in the G Street area may have short water or wastewater outages during construction. The City says residents will be notified in advance of planned outages.
- Questions. The City's project page has the current status and a map of the work area. General questions go to Public Works at [email protected].
The City also has a separate page for the resurfacing and lighting project that follows. Check it next summer as the contract award gets closer.
If you own a home near Samish Way or are thinking about listing one in 2027, the order of these projects can affect your timing. Showings during the night-work months and photos taken before or after the resurfacing are both worth planning around. Flannery Group follows these corridor schedules closely across the Samish neighborhood. Schedule a local market consult, and we will go over the City's construction calendar for your block with you.
