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Highway crews worked to smooth Egan Drive Wednesday, removing pronounced bumps at two bridges on the recently completed Sunny Point Interchange project.

The bumps were the result of fill material next to the bridges settling more than the bridges themselves, said Soc Kreuzenstein, project manager for the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.

Settling was anticipated, but its rate is difficult to predict, he said.

Most of the project was completed some time ago, but they held off fixing the bumps until more settling occurred, he said.

Contractor Secon needs to use its equipment elsewhere soon, so they've gone ahead with the grinding and repaving, he said.

The area has poor soil stability, he said, one reason it was a two year project. The new road was built and settled for a year before it was paved.

The settling at the Glacier Highway access overpass was much more pronounced than at the Sunny Point access, because of differences in soil quality, Kreuzenstein said.

"The subsurface at Sunny Point is much more stable and much closer to bedrock," he said. "It's one of the reasons Sunny Point exists, that rock outcropping there."

The relatively quick repair job also had to avoid rainy periods, he said, because of the repaving.

Seeding the median strip and painting on the newly paved areas is all the work that remains on the project, he said.

• Contact reporter Pat Forgey at 523-2250 or patrick.forgey@juneauempire.com.