Drivers across Whidbey Island may notice a spate of dips or bumps in county roads that seem to have appeared suddenly.

The road work is merely part of annual improvements that have been delayed due to rainfall.

The divots or bumps, known as “grind outs,” mark where new paving needs to begin. Once the grind out is complete, county road workers move onto the necessary paving and ice abatement treatments.

Given dry conditions, Island County road workers will be re-paving curbs and roadways in these areas over the next several weeks.

Sealcoating or chip sealing will be finished by the end of this week island-wide, according to assistant county engineer Connie Bowers.

While the rain has delayed some projects as much as three weeks, Bowers said the contractors anticipate still finishing within their originally scheduled time.

“The number of working days in the contract is 45 days, although the contractor, Lakeside Industries, thinks they will finish well ahead of that schedule,” Bowers said.

Paving is complete in the Bayview and Camano districts, Bowers said, and work continues in the Coupeville District.

Oak Harbor and South Whidbey-area roads should also be completed within the 45-day deadline.

Select roads will have ice abatement treatments added after paving. These are expected to be complete in the Bayview District by the end of the week, moving to Camano next week.

Oak Harbor does not have any roads with ice abatement this year. Coupeville District has a single road scheduled for ice abatement after Camano District is complete.

Specifically Island County will be completing projects next week at Terry Road, Parker Road, Vine Street, Sherman Road, Parker Road, South West Beach Road and Main Street.

Coupeville-area road improvements are currently on the schedule but crews should be moving to complete other similar grind out projects throughout the island in coming weeks.