Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
The 2018 forecast for Whitman County’s Public Works department includes road projects, bridge work, and continuing enhancements and maintenance at the county landfill site.
On county roads, phase four of the extensive Almota Road reconstruction may or may not happen this year – late summer or fall – as steps remain unrealized, including a final design, approval by the state and federal government and right-of-way purchases. The right-of-way matter involves the county needing to buy certain stretches of land from private parties along Almota Road. In the process, revisions are being made to engineering in order to meet landowners’ requests.
Phase four stretches for 3.5 to 4 miles from Highway 194 north to 1/3-mile past the top of Henning Hill.
“We don’t know for sure, but we believe it’s going to happen this year,” said Mark Storey, Public Works director.
For county bridges, the subject of a $353,400 inspections project begun in October, Public Works is looking at replacing at least one this year, the Glen Miller Bridge, a 22-foot long concrete and wood span with distress issues that has been on the list to replace for the past two years.
At the county solid waste transfer facility south of Colfax, closure repair work will continue on cells nos. 1, 2 and 3.
On 2 and 3, work carries on installing new gas vents and monitoring groundwater to sample for final closure. The two cells were sealed in 1994 and have since been monitored according to state and federal law.
Public Works employees are also writing a solid waste capital improvement plan – the first since 2008 – to map out future needs at the transfer station site.
“To keep on top of good waste handling processes,” said Storey.
In addition, David Nails, Solid Waste Operations manager, expects to have a new five-year Solid Waste Management plan done this spring or summer.
Additional road department work opening the year includes rock crushing underway on two contracts, and rounding out the ranks of snowplow drivers for the rest of the winter.
“I think we’re in pretty good shape right now,” said Storey. “We have gotten some more applications in the last month or so.”
The severity of the winter will also play a role in deciding some items later in the year. For example, a paving project for Sand Road near Pullman, which the department has $500,000 set aside. Depending on funding, the 3.8-mile stretch – ending at the Idaho state line – may be done with a “penetration shot” of gravel and oil (an estimated $500,000) or asphalt, which would cost a full $1 million.
“Stay tuned,” said Storey.
Also, if the department is unable to build Almota phase four in 2018, it may take on another paving job somewhere in the county.
The bridge rating project is expected to conclude in the next two months, with reports coming in now. The department knows already that weight limits will be posted for some bridges which have not been before.
The county continues to replace its wooden bridges as needed. In 2001, 92 wood spans dotted the county. Today there are 24 remaining. The wood spans are replaced with concrete bridges or metal pipe or concrete pipe structures.
Concrete bridges last 75-100 years, while wood has an estimated time of 35 years.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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