Neighbor protest derails Airport road rebuild

Reconstruction of the Colfax Airport Road, planned for this summer, will likely be delayed until next year because of a dispute with a landowner along the proposed route.

Whitman County Public Works Director Mark Storey said one of the landowners along the road “does not agree with the design” of the new road and has refused to sell the county a right-of-way on their property.

Storey told county commissioners Monday he had been unable to speak to that landowner about acquiring right-of-way for the project until last week.

“I suspect as a direct result of these meetings we will not be able to build the Airport Road this summer,” he said.

Because negotiations with the landowner are ongoing, Storey said he could not release the name of that landowner.

He said the county at this point does not plan to undertake a condemnation action for the property. He said as far as he and other staff members can recall, the county has never had to condemn land for a road improvement project.

The plan of the $3.3 million project is to widen the road, provide wider shoulders, improve the radius of some of the road’s curves and improve curve embankments.

The Colfax Airport Road has become a major thoroughfare over the past several years as Washington State University students and game day fans use it to bypass Colfax on their way from Highway 26 to Pullman.

Storey said he is concerned a delay until next year might increase the cost of the project.

“It’s a good bidding climate right now, because we’re just coming out of a recession and people are hungry for work,” said Storey.

Prices for public projects in the state fell after the 2008 recession. Storey said prices for projects built in 2009 and 2010 were down about 20 percent from prices of comparable projects built in 2008.

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.