EPHRATA — Drivers using Dodson Road between State Route 282 and Road 4 NW will be experiencing some delays as that section of the road gets a new layer of asphalt.

“It’s under construction right now,” said Grant County Engineer Dave Bren.

The 11-mile stretch of Dodson Road is the biggest road project in Grant County in 2023, he said. The bid for the project was about $3.2 million, with the county paying about $457,000 as its portion. Grant County received about $2.82 million in federal funding for the project. A one-mile section of the project is in the Ephrata city limits, so the city is paying about $264,000 for its portion.

Central Washington Asphalt is the contractor.

Chip-sealing of county roads also began this week. The chip-sealing program is set up so that each section of paved county road is chip-sealed every nine years, Bren said. Grant County is divided up into three road districts, and each district chip-seals about one-third of its roads every year.

“We’ve got a lot of road maintenance this summer. The chip-seal is road maintenance,” he said.

Other road projects originally planned for 2023 have been pushed back. The reconstruction of a section of Maple Drive NE and Grape Drive NE north of Moses Lake has been pushed back at least to 2024, and so has the construction of a roundabout at Road 12 SW and Dodson Road, northeast of Royal City.

Bren said the Maple Drive project is delayed because the county needs to complete acquisition of rights-of-way along the route.

“You have to work with private property owners,” he said.

Engineers are working on the project design. Maple Drive will be rebuilt between Stratford Road and North Hemlock Road, and Grape Drive between the Moses Lake city limits and its intersection with Maple.

County officials identified the Dodson Road-Road 12 SW intersection as one that needed some safety improvements, Bren said. The original plan was to build a full-size roundabout there, but county officials have decided to build what’s called a “compact roundabout.”

Bren said the roundabout at the Dodson Road-SR 282 intersection is an example. It’s smaller and lacks the mound in the center.

“The reason why is cost,” he said.

A compact roundabout is much cheaper, about $500,000 to $700,000, Bren said. County officials had applied for federal funding for the project, but didn’t receive it.

The Road 12 SW-Dodson Road intersection has been subject to a number of safety improvements in the past few years, including rumble strips in both directions on Road 12 SW, stop signs with flashing lights and a flashing yellow light on Dodson Road.

“We’re still having stuff happen,” Bren said.

Building the compact roundabout will mean the speed limit at the intersection will be reduced to 30 to 35 miles per hour.

“It’s a safety reason, is why we’re reducing the speed,” he said.

Cheryl Schweizer may be reached at [email protected].