Colton turned down for Rimrock project

Colton was passed over for state funding for the town’s proposed new road. The state Transportation Improvement Board (TIB) sent word to all winners of TIB grants in late November and Colton was not among them.

“I was really disappointed because I really felt like we had the right thing. Safety was a big issue for our school kids. You’d think that would score pretty high,” said Colton mayor Jerry Weber.

Eight other towns in the county placed high enough on the TIB scoring to qualify for the grants which were announced last week. Colton applied for a $650,000 grant.

“Seemed like most other towns in Whitman County got a grant except us. So that’s a little disappointing,” Weber said.

Weber said the town will talk with a TIB representative to improve their application and apply for the second time next year.

“We felt we had a really good [chance]. According to Gloria at the TIB office, we just didn’t have quite the high enough score,” Weber said.

The route for the proposed road would cross what is now a field and a narrow gravel driveway that dead ends. While within city limits, the land is owned by the Colton school district and the Rick Heitstuman family.

The Rimrock Road project for Colton was entered into TIB’s small-city arterial program.

Of the 49 projects entered in that category, 19 scored high enough for funds, said County Commissioner Greg Partch. Partch is on the TIB board as chairman.

Partch pointed out the Colton project ranked 32nd out of 49. Projects are scored on a point system that considers criteria like the current condition of the road or the imminent safety factors of the road location.

“They didn’t score high enough,” Partch said.

The town wants to name the new road Rimrock Road, simply call it an extension of the existing Rimrock Road.

Rimrock Road is a route to about a dozen farms southwest of Colton. It is also a popular alternative recreational route for hunting.

Every year, farming equipment and supply trucks drive directly by the Colton school to reach the farms.

Weber said heavy machinery passing so close to the Colton students is a problem.

Colton has a limited amount of land zoned as commercial; the parcel of land which the new road would cross is zoned commercial.

The town council wanted to take advantage of that by opening up the land for use. The paved road, which would run about a block, would have sidewalks, drains and possibly water and sewer lines.

The town also applied for two other TIB grants for sidewalks. Neither qualified.