MOSES LAKE - Curbing will be installed next week on Stratford Road near Walgreens to block southbound traffic from making left turns into the business parking lot.

The Moses Lake City Council approved the plan in April after reportedly receiving several complaints regarding the danger of collisions just north of the West Broadway intersection.

Councilman Richard Pearce recently asked what the delay was on getting the project started.

Municipal services director Gary Harer said the property owner - David Thompson, a development manager with S. E. Grainger Development Group - requested a delay to try and save money on the project by asking their contractor to include work on Balsam Street.

As part of an agreement with the city, the property owner will cover the full cost of the curbing on Stratford as well as half the price of an improved cul-de-sac behind Walgreens on Balsam, according to Moses Lake City Engineer Shawn O'Brien.

The concrete curbing is scheduled to be delivered Monday and should be installed soon after, O'Brien said. The project should have minimal impact on traffic, he added, with the middle two lanes on Stratford closed during off-peak hours.

The curb will be installed in the center of the road, similar to the curb placed near Arby's Restaurant on Valley Road.

After it's in, southbound motorists on Stratford Road will have to turn left at the light and then left again at Balsam to enter the Walgreens parking lot.

Before the project was approved this spring Thompson asked council to consider completing a traffic study to see if there might be another option than blocking left turns entirely, but the city declined.

There have been fewer than four collisions at the Stratford entrance to Walgreens since the store was built, according to Moses Lake police records.

"We're not sure how this could affect sales at Walgreens but we don't anticipate a positive outcome," Thompson said this week.