Paving begins Monday night on I-90 from Vantage to George
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 3 weeks, 4 days AGO
Along with work on the Vantage Bridge, pictured, road crews will be repaving sections of Interstate 90 from George to the bridge, beginning Monday. Drivers should expect delays, both in the section being paved and on the bridge.
CHERYL SCHWEIZER/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
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. | April 17, 2026 3:20 AM
VANTAGE — Drivers traveling between George and the Vantage Bridge should plan for single-lane travel and reduced speeds at night as road crews repave the section of Interstate 90 between George and the bridge beginning Monday.
Sebastian Moraga, communications consultant with the Washington Department of Transportation, said in a press release that crews will be working through approximately mid-August.
“Work will occur primarily at night, from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. Monday through Friday each week,” Moraga said. “Contractors will repave and restripe approximately 11 miles of I-90 to extend the service life of the pavement.”
A WSDOT alert issued Thursday afternoon said drivers should expect single-lane closures, reduced speed limits and delays. Crews will be grinding down the existing paving and resurfacing ramps and the travel lanes both westbound and eastbound.
It’s the second phase of a two-year project to repave sections of the freeway between Moses Lake and the bridge. The first phase, between Moses Lake and the Dodson Road exit, was paved in 2025. Total project cost over the two years is about $22 million.
Repaving comes at the same time as the continuing work on the Vantage Bridge, which also has restricted traffic to a single lane and reduced speeds.
It’s the third year of construction to replace the bridge deck, a project that is scheduled to continue through 2028. Work on the bridge will continue through the end of the construction season in October.
After years of delays, construction on a roundabout at the intersection of West Cunningham Road and state Route 17 in Othello is scheduled to start April 27, although Moraga said in an earlier interview that it could start by the end of next week.
It’s expected to be completed by mid-July.
The project originally was scheduled for construction in 2022, but a combination of funding reallocations and heavy work schedules pushed it back to 2025, It was postponed again due to budget constraints.
Sections of West Cunningham Road – which is also Othello’s main street – will be closed during construction, but SR 17 will remain open with traffic controls. Most of the work will occur during the day on weekdays.
The configuration of SR 17 will remain unchanged, with one lane in each direction. The center island will have a higher curb and a mound of rock in the center.
Drivers along Stratford Road near the Knolls Vista Drive intersection should be prepared for delays while crews install flashing beacons and other upgrades at the pedestrian crosswalk. That project is scheduled to begin in late April.
Curb ramps that are compliant with ADA regulations will be added; an “accessible pedestrian signal” will be added to accommodate people with impaired hearing or vision.
The sidewalks on both sides of Stratford Road will be closed at times during the construction, and drivers can expect intermittent lane closures in each direction on Stratford Road, according to a city press release.
ARTICLES BY CHERYL SCHWEIZER
Energy and energy alternatives discussed at Newhouse summit
MOSES LAKE — Representatives of industry, government and power generation spent Monday discussing the present and future of power production at an Energy Summit hosted by Fourth District Congressman Dan Newhouse. Newhouse said the goal was to talk about solutions as well as challenges. “(The summit) focused on – well, a lot of different aspects of energy,” Newhouse said. “Tremendous need, that’s probably the best word for it. A shortage, which is not allowing our potential to be realized here in Central Washington. How do we address that? How do we increase the amount of energy production in a timeline that makes sense? We can’t wait years and years; we need to get things done as quickly as possible. How do we do that at a cost we can afford?”
Port of Moses Lake power generation project moving forward
MOSES LAKE — Some existing Port of Moses Lake customers are considering expansion, and potential customers are looking at Moses Lake as an option. But, said Shannon Souza of Sol Coast Consulting, there are some roadblocks.
BBCC student information not hacked during computer shutdown
MOSES LAKE — Personal information of Big Bend Community College students was not compromised as the result of a cyberattack against a company that provides system management software. Matt Killebrew, BBCC director of communications, said the college does use the Canvas system, which allows students to access class and financial information, and communicate with instructors, among other things. The company that owns the Canvas system was hacked in early May, according to information on the Wired website. “We still don’t know who did it, but we do know no important information was accessed,” Killebrew said.