Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Whitman County Public Works forecasts a quieter run for the new year.
“There are no big reconstruction projects at all,” County Public Works Director Mark Storey reported this week.
Instead, a summer of more chip sealing and fewer overlays will feature three smaller projects, bridge reconstructions on Sand Road near Pullman and Steptoe Canyon Road and a series of road safety improvements following an extensive study of the county’s paved roads.
Last year, the $700,000 Hatley Bridge replacement, the $1 million Rosalia Road overlay combined with Dry Creek Road chip-sealing and construction of the new solid waste transfer station highlighted a list of large projects.
This year will be different.
Two bridges
For Edmundson Bridge on Sand Road, an increase in traffic has led to the need to widen the 19-foot-wide bridge on the 25-foot-wide road. The roadway serves as an alternate route between Pullman and Moscow and intersects with Johnson Road south of Pullman.
“It’s a heavy commuter road for us,” said Storey.
The concrete arch bridge was built in the early 1900s.
“It’s structurally sound, it’s just slowly deteriorating,” Storey said. “The number of cars on that road goes up every year.”
The estimated two-month project would be done by a county crew, with work to be done this year or next, depending on permitting and other factors.
“We’re going to get it all ready to go and see what time it is,” said Storey.
When it happens, the road will be closed and the county will install a temporary detour bridge – consisting of a large culvert with a gravel surface over the top.
“Fish and Wildlife doesn’t like these, it’s getting harder to get a permit for them,” said Storey.
Thus, he added to the road department’s 2016 budget a temporary bridge, similar to what the military uses.
Estimated at $50,000, the steel-and-timber span could save the department money over time for use with the county’s 340 bridges and structures, such as large twin-water pipes and square box culverts.
“If we spend $15,000-$40,000 on detour bridges every year and buy one for $50,000 that lasts 10 years, we’re way ahead of the game,” Storey said.
The item went into the budget – approved by county commissioners – after Storey and his staff considered it for three years.
The decision to buy it has yet to be made.
“It’s in the budget, but it’s still a separate decision whether you do it or not,” Storey said.
The second bridge project slated for this year, near the bottom of Steptoe Canyon Road, will be funded by the Washington Salmon Recovery Funding Board. An estimated $300,000 will be spent to build a new 30-foot bridge to replace a six-foot culvert.
The culvert pipe blocks two miles of salmon and steelhead habitat upstream from the Snake River.
Work will be completed by a Whitman County construction crew as well as labor from Palouse Conservation District.
Safety work
Work on embankments, signage, tree removal, power poles and other projects will be part of the county’s $750,000 paved-road improvement project funded by the federal Surface Transportation Act.
Storey and staff are now reviewing reports of a Lidar study – a type of remote sensing – conducted last fall which photographed all 430 miles of paved roads in the county, creating “positional data” to be used to decipher factors which contribute to accidents.
The work was done by Erlandson, Inc. of East Wenatchee, which used a pilot car trailed by a county vehicle to catalog county paved roads.
Once a list of the safety improvements is drawn up, the package will go out for bid.
“Hopefully it will be one contract for all of it,” Storey said.
Work is planned for this summer but may be delayed a year due to arrival time of grant funds.
Surface Transportation Act work requires the county to submit its engineering plans to the Federal Highway Department for approval, after which funds are released.
Chip-sealing
Chip-sealing roadwork for 2016 is expected to increase from a usual 25 miles to about 45 in the county as no road overlay work will be done. The two maintenance practices vary from year to year based on money and priorities.
Chip-sealing is an asphalt emulsion oil sprayed over a road surface with rock chips applied to create a 3/4-inch thick “wearing course” which can last seven to 12 years.
On the county list to chip-seal this year are all or part of the following: Garfield-Farmington Road, Johnson Road, Old Moscow Road, Klemgard Road, Rosalia Exit Road, Rosalia Road, Pine City-Malden Road, Endicott Road, Lancaster Road and Green Hollow Road.
Total mileage for chip-sealing for the year is subject to change.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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