Repaving on Moses Lake’s Valley Road begins Monday
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 2 years, 7 months AGO
Cars on Valley Road. A project to repave the road from Paxson Drive to Stratford Road begins Monday.
CHERYL SCHWEIZER/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Vehicles travel up the hill on Valley Road, where road work and traffic revisions, begin Monday. The roughly $2.9 million project will install new infrastructure under the roadway in addition to making surface improvements.
Senior Reporter Cheryl Schweizer is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience serving small communities in the Pacific Northwest. She began her post-high-school education at Treasure Valley Community College and enerned her journalism degree at Oregon State University. After working for multiple publications, she has settled down at the Columbia Basin Herald and has been a staple of the newsroom for more than a decade. Schweizer’s dedication to her communities and profession has earned her the nickname “The Baroness of Bylines.” She covers a variety of beats including health, business and various municipalities. | June 2, 2022 3:38 PM
MOSES LAKE — Traffic revisions will be in place on Valley Road beginning Monday as the road is resurfaced from Stratford Road to Paxson Drive. Construction crews will be working on the project from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, with the first phase scheduled for completion Aug. 5, according to information from the city of Moses Lake.
The project will include removing the existing pavement and underlying roadbed, rebuilding the roadbed and repaving. Curbs and gutters will replace the existing gutters on the south side of the road, and stormwater improvements are planned as well.
“Water pretreatment devices will be added to capture more pollutants before disposal,” a press release from the city said.
A walking trail on the south side of the road that’s currently asphalt will be replaced with a concrete surface.
Total project cost is about $2.89 million, according to the release. Selland Construction out of Wenatchee is the contractor.
“Given the state of bidding with the current inflation and supply chain issues, the (Moses Lake City Council) was very pleased and staff was happy to recommend the bid for the project, which was very close to the engineer’s estimate,” said Moses Lake City Manager Allison Williams.
The contract specifies a 100-working day term, ending in October, according to the press release.
The first phase of the project will resurface the lanes on the north side of the road, with the second phase — the south lanes — following. No work is planned for the week of the Grant County Fair, which begins Aug. 16.
The inside left turn lane on Stratford Road to Valley Road will be closed during construction.
Valley Road is one of the detour routes around the intersection of Grape Drive and state Route 17, where the traffic light is being replaced with a roundabout.
“The Valley Road project is to be constructed in a way that will maintain lanes in each direction for the life of the project, so drivers will not face any additional rerouting,” wrote Justin Hammond, Washington Department of Transportation engineer for the SR-17-Grape Drive project, in response to an email.
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.
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