Road report
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 7 months, 1 week AGO
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. | August 28, 2025 5:43 PM
VANTAGE BRIDGE — Most road construction will be suspended during the Labor Day weekend, although lanes and sometimes roads will still be closed.
“All four lanes across the Vantage Bridge will reopen by 7 a.m. Friday, Aug. 29,” according to a press release from the Washington State Department of Transportation. “Travel will return to one lane in each direction by 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 2.”
Road construction in Grant and Adams counties is in full swing:
• The intersection of Nat Washington Way and State Route 28 in Ephrata will remain closed over Labor Day weekend, but Grant County officials are hoping to reopen the intersection as early as next week.
Grant County Central Services Director Tom Gaines said the project is ahead of schedule, and depending on the outcome of a WSDOT inspection Sept. 2, the intersection could reopen by Sept. 5.
Cost is estimated at $4 million.
“We’ve got a lot of little finish work to do,” Gaines said.
The work has discombobulated traffic to and through Ephrata. One of the detour routes uses a section of Nat Washington Way at its intersection with A Street Southeast, the access to Ephrata Middle School.
With school back in session, traffic routes to and from EMS will be revised during student drop-off and pickup times. Ephrata City Administrator Ray Towry said the traffic revisions will be in place for about 90 minutes in the morning and afternoon, with flaggers around town to help direct traffic.
People picking up and dropping off students will be routed down Basin Street Southwest to the intersection with SR 282, to the roundabout at the SR 282-A Street SE intersection, then down A Street SE to the middle school.
The traffic revisions will be in place until the roundabout opens.
• Drivers should be on the lookout for delays at the intersection of State Route 26 and South First Avenue in Othello while crews work on a new roundabout at that intersection.
Construction will be suspended over the Labor Day weekend, although crews will be working on Friday. Traffic restrictions will remain in place, with a temporary traffic signal at the intersection.
Sebastian Moraga, communications consultant with the north central region, said crews are excavating for the central island and pouring curbs along the road shoulders. The curb for the roundabout’s central island will be poured beginning next week, he said.
Construction is scheduled to continue through mid-October. Project cost is about $3.2 million.
• Construction is suspended on the I-90 paving project around Moses Lake from Friday through Monday, with crews returning to work Tuesday night. Crews have been working from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. since Aug. 18, and Moraga said that schedule will continue at least through Sept. 5.
The section of I-90 from Dodson to Mae Valley will be repaved in the eastbound lanes only, while Mae Valley to Road O NE will be both eastbound and westbound lanes. It’s the first year of a two-year project to repave sections of I-90 from the Vantage Bridge to Road O Northeast. Total project cost is $22 million.
• Chip-sealing will begin Sept. 4 on streets through the downtown Moses Lake area, from West Broadway Avenue to West Fifth Avenue and from South Pioneer Way to the intersection of West Third Avenue and West Broadway. East Hill Avenue and sections of East Wheeler Road also will get a new coat of chip seal, and a roundabout will be installed at the intersection of Wheeler Road and Road L NE.
Chip sealing is projected to be completed by Sept. 12, said Lynne Lynch, marketing and communications director for the city.
Drivers should be prepared for temporary detours and traffic control while chip-sealing is underway.
The streets will get a new set of stripes once the chip-sealing is completed. Most streets that are currently two lanes in each direction will be revised to one lane in each direction with a center left-turn lane. The exception is Wheeler Road east of State Route 17, which will remain two lanes in each direction.
ARTICLES BY CHERYL SCHWEIZER
Road closures, roundabout, mean construction season underway
EPHRATA — The grass is starting to turn green, the trees are starting to leaf out, construction crews are starting to build roundabouts – hey, it’s spring. At least one roundabout project is in its final phase, held over from fall 2025. The intersection of State Route 282 and Nat Washington Way will be closed the week of April 6 to allow crews to install permanent lights. “This really is the final (closure),” wrote Grant County Administrator Tom Gaines in a media release. “The roundabout will close at 6 a.m. Monday, and we plan to reopen by Friday, possibly sooner if the work finishes early.”
Ybarra announces run for Washington Senate
QUINCY — State Representative Alex Ybarra, R-Quincy, has announced his candidacy for the Washington Senate. If he’s elected, he would replace Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, who announced her retirement in March.
Othello Community Museum to open April 25
OTHELLO — With a couple of new exhibits, a new heating-cooling system, rearranged displays and a thorough cleaning, the Othello Community Museum will open for the summer April 25. The goal, said Molly Popchock, museum board secretary, is to operate for a full season.
