OTHELLO — At the July 13 City Council meeting, the City of Othello awarded the Kiwanis Park Trails Project to Granite Construction Company from Pasco. The project is set to make improvements to the existing trails and pathways that exist at the park and make it easier for all patrons. 

“It’s great,” said Othello Mayor Ken Johnson. “It’s improving our park system. It’s going to make that park a lot more safe with the new walk paths and lighted even. So it’ll make it more accessible during different times.” 

The current pathways at Kiwanis Park have been in place for a few years and have since had tree roots push up the pavement, which has made traversal unsafe. Johnson said the project would make the pavement smooth and put the pathway at around eight feet wide. 

Othello's City Engineer Robin Adolphsen said these improvements will also keep in mind making the pathways more wheelchair accessible.  

“The plan is to level them and make them more accessible for a multi-use path,” she said. 

This project will also add lighting that will run alongside the pathways. Adolphsen said the trees in the park provide great shade and keep the park cool, but also create very dark spaces, especially later in the day. 

“With the lighting, they will feel safer to be able to walk those in the evenings,” she said. 

Construction for the park project is set to begin in early August, said Adolphsen. 

Bids for the project began July 9 with the Engineer Estimate for the project sitting at $393,517, according to the council meeting agenda. The city received four bids for the work and chose Granite construction who bid $248,031.73, which is $145,485 under the Engineer’s Estimate. 

The original budget for the project is $1,258,120, with $1,100,000 being covered by a Land Water Conservation Fund grant, and $158,120 is from the city matching funds. The grant also includes work to develop and install a splash pad at Kiwanis Park which is currently under construction, using $873,480 of those funds, leaving $384,640 available for the Kiwanis Park Trails Project, according to the agenda packet.  

Along with the splash pad and trails development projects, Johnson said the city has also been awarded a grant for 2027 to put in a new playground system. This would bring in all new equipment, add new basketball courts and expand the parking lot on the northwest corner. 

Through all of these park improvements, the mayor said he hopes to provide public spaces that are nice, safe and accessible to everybody. 

“We encourage people to get outdoors and enjoy themselves, and if we can make it better that way that’s what we do,” said Johnson.