MOSES LAKE — Design and engineering analysis is underway on the first of six bridges in Adams County that are being widened across the East Low Canal. 

Adams County Commissioner Dan Blankenship provided an update on the progress of the bridge work at the annual meeting of the Columbia Basin Development League on Oct. 29. 

Blankenship said he was skeptical of the project when he came into office, what he called the “long tradition” of skepticism on the part of Adams County commissioners. Widening the bridges is part of the larger project to widen the canal. That will allow farms in a section of the Columbia Basin Project near Odessa to switch from groundwater to surface water for irrigation. 

“I still have doubts about the propriety of a small jurisdiction like us being in this position,” he said. 

But many cities in Adams County are facing challenges in maintaining an adequate water supply due to depletion of the aquifer they all share, he said. Switching to surface water for irrigation also will help keep longstanding farms in business, he said. 

“So – Adams County has realized the cavalry is not coming,” he said. “This is on us.”  

County officials have been working with federal and state officials to find the money for the bridge reconstruction, he said. The first one of the six is the bridge at Sackman Road northeast of Warden near the Grant-Adams county line.  

“These dollars came from Sen. (Patty) Murray’s office," he said.  

The five remaining bridges are northwest of Othello. Blankenship said Adams County officials have secured funding for design and engineering for the bridge at Booker Road, with the help of retiring Fifth District Representative Cathy McMorris-Rodgers. 

“The total of those two projects (is) about $8 million,” he said. 

With the help of Murray and fellow Sen. Maria Cantwell, county officials have secured funding to help pay for design and engineering on the remaining four bridges, Blankenship said. Mark Schoesler, senator from the Ninth District of the Washington Legislature, helped secure to pay the match needed to qualify for the federal funds, he said. 

In addition, Adams County officials are working with Murray to qualify for federal funding for construction of the remaining four bridges. He estimated the total project cost would be about $30 million. 

“We’re going to do everything we can to get the ball moving,” he said.  

He expressed appreciation to the CBDL for its support in obtaining the funding.