Hume Road gets rebuild funding

Washington state has decided Whitman County’s Hume Road is the worst road in northeast Washington. Turns out that’s a good thing.

Because of the deteriorating condition of the north end of Hume Road, Whitman County has been awarded repair funding from the state’s rural arterial preservation program.

“Looks like other counties are beginning to have a hard time competing with our nice, windy, crappy roads,” said Public Works Director Mark Storey.

Storey reported to county commissioners Monday that state officials determined the surface of Hume Road, a cross county arterial which links Highways 195 south of Steptoe and 27 at Oakesdale, was in worse shape than any other road in the region.

That decision means the county will get more than $3 million in road rehabilitation funding. The funds will be used to rebuild some 3.5 miles of the road. The work will start at the north end junction with Highway 27 just south of Oakesdale and continue south.

Storey blamed the condition of Hume Road on the annual freezes and thaws that weaken its sub-surface.

He added many of the roads in the region that had previously been rated worse than Hume Road have already received repair funds from the state. That moved Hume up the priority list.

Engineering will likely begin next year, with construction set for 2014 or 2015.

Whitman County has applied for funding to repair the entire 11-mile road in sections. The same mode has been used for rebuilding two segments of Almota Road to Union Flat south of Colfax to Union Flat Creek.