2018's top stories: Cedar Street, Highway 195 projects marked 2018 summer construction year

Road construction projects in Colfax and on Highway 195 marked a big year with overall costs of the two projects finishing in the $7 million range.

The Colfax project on the North Flat was done by Motley and Motley of Pullman. It included a rebuild of Cedar Street from 7th to 11th streets and all of Oak Street plus 8th Street.

Approximate price tag for the project was $1,645,000.

The Colfax job included installation of new sewer mains and water lines. The new sewer lines are expected to resolve a surface water infiltration problem which led to backup problems on the flat.

The project started the second week in June and continued until early November. Traffic on the North Flat had to cope with a detour along Riverside Lane during most of that time.

On Highway 195, N.E. Degerstrom was the contractor for a bridge re-surfacing project and the addition of four new passing lanes between Colfax and Plaza. The lanes project was an extension of an earlier contract which added lanes in each direction north and south of Steptoe.

Decks on a 195 bridge north of Steptoe and on three spans south of Rosalia and one north of Rosalia were completed. Degerstrom had a $2.075 million contract for that project which involved one-way traffic controls at each bridge.

The passing lanes were installed northbound starting at Thornton and north of the Brabb Road overpass north of Rosalia. Two other lanes were installed in the Plaza area. Bid on the passing lanes was $4.07 million.

Next state passing lane projects are targeted for Highway 26.