EPHRATA — Construction is planned this summer on a new roundabout at the intersection of State Route 282 and Nat Washington Way near the new Grant County Jail construction site.  

Grant County Central Services Director Tom Gaines said there is a tentative timeline. 

“A little bit of it is out of our control, but we hope to break ground in May,” Gaines said.  

Cost has not yet been determined.  

“We’re in predesign. We haven’t put it out to bid yet, so we don’t know the total cost,” Gaines said. “We have an estimated cost, between $3 and $5 million.”  

Construction is projected to take about three months.  

The new Grant County Jail is under construction on the south side of the intersection, and Gaines said the roundabout is a crucial part of that project. Washington Department of Transportation officials have said the roundabout must be completed before the new jail can open, and the jail is scheduled for completion and occupancy in spring or early summer 2026. 

A roundabout at that intersection has been under discussion for a few years, and Gaines said the WSDOT allocated money for the project. It has not, however, been scheduled for construction by the Department of Transportation.  

“The DOT budgeted this (about) 10 years ago, and a lot of (the funding) was federal money,” Gaines said.  

Waiting to determine the project’s eligibility would push it back at least a year, Gaines said. County officials can’t wait that long if the jail is done on time and would be opened on schedule, he added. 

The DOT has allocated about $400,000 for the project, he said.  

That’s already a busy corner, and the jail will add to the traffic. In addition, the Grant County PUD purchased a section of the property for its new maintenance facility – and possibly for a new headquarters building before the end of the decade. That too would have impacts on traffic. 

The PUD also is allocating money for the project, said PUD commissioner Tom Flint in an earlier interview. 

Answering a question in an online discussion, Gaines said a traffic study was commissioned for the intersection to assess the impact of development at that intersection. 

“While (the study) does not go into detail regarding accidents, its findings, based on current traffic counts and expectations of traffic after the jail is occupied, scored the intersection low enough that safety mitigation was required by the DOT,” Gaines wrote. 

The tentative design has one lane in each direction and the circle would be bigger than the roundabout at the intersection of SR 282 and Dodson Road, about a half mile west of Nat Washington Way.  

Gaines said county officials haven’t decided yet about the design of the circle. The Dodson Road roundabout is flat, but Gaines said county officials are looking at other designs. 

“We want something that is aesthetically pleasing,” he said.