EPHRATA — The city of Ephrata is working alongside the Port of Ephrata and the Washington State Department of Transportation to finalize a plan for a detour while building a roundabout on State Route 282. 

“They are working on their desired pathway for detour,” City Administrator Ray Towry said during the July 18 regular council meeting. “Essentially, what they are finding is that it is much more cost-effective for them to completely close that intersection down and reroute all of the traffic from SR 282 through Ephrata. It does go by a couple of schools and through some neighborhoods. The staff is still digesting this.”  

The detour is anticipated to be in place from July 21 through Sept. 12. The roundabout is being built to help traffic go to and from the new Grant County Jail.  

Ephrata Port Executive Director David W. Lanman was also at the meeting, saying the Port of Ephrata supports this decision.  

Currently, the plan is to close a section of SR 282. Then traffic would be rerouted up Airport Street Southeast to Fifth Avenue Southeast, then down Nat Washington Way.  

Local traffic will still be able to access Dodson Road as of now.  

“There’s a large potential for some real issues as far as backup,” Ephrata Mayor Bruce Reim said. “Then you have the school bus issue, which would compound it immensely.”  

Towry said the last time the state did a traffic count at that intersection on SR 282 was in 2007, and the intersection saw around 8,000 vehicles a day.  

“I am going to assume that has grown by roughly 20%,” Towry said. “So, it’s probably an increase of as much of 12,000 vehicles going through our community.”  

Towry said he specifically had concerns about the intersection of Nat Washington Way and A Street Southeast, which is near Ephrata Middle School, especially because the detour would take place during the first three to four weeks of school.  

“Between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m. or between 2:30 and 3:30 p.m., that could be particularly challenging for our community,” Towry said.  

Towry said there is ongoing discussion with the county about mitigating any issues that may occur with this plan. This is not the final plan but the current proposed plan, Towry said.  

“We are just one player in this with the Department of Transportation, with Grant County and with the Port,” Reim said. “As far as the route, my understanding is that the plan is to close the road entirely to be able to get more work done in a short period of time. We are currently working with all the players on how that detour would look and how that will affect our community.”