Airport Road project to make ‘bypass’ safer

Colfax Airport Road, a major bypass route for WSU coast traffic off Highway 26, will be completely rebuilt this summer by Whitman County’s road department.

Public Works Director Mark Storey said the $3.3 million project will widen the road, create shoulders, eliminate some of its tight curves and will make better angles on the road’s slopes.

He said increased traffic on the road has prompted the need for the improvements. More and more cars have driven the Airport Road route over the last several years, as WSU students and game day traffic from Highway 26 have found out about the Colfax “bypass” route.

“It’s been sort of discovered, I guess,” said Storey. “It seems like we get a little more traffic on it every year.”

The route from Highway 26 into Colfax down Almota Road allows drivers to miss the traffic lights in Colfax.

To make traveling safer, the project will smooth out the curves on the east end of the road, closer to the Almota Road junction. Storey said the county may also improve the curve on the western end of the road by installing a banked curve.

“That does get rid of some of the slide-off potential on that curve, which I know has been a problem,” said Storey.

That portion of the project may not happen, though, as utilities like fiber optic cable and gas lines are now in the road right-of-way.

Washington State’s County Road Administrative Board granted the county $2.93 million over the last two years to help fund the project. County and federal funds will pay the difference.