City readies for downtown detour

MOSES LAKE — Starting Monday, Sinkiuse Square will be hosting a different kind of parking.

The square next to the Moses Lake Post Office will close off most of its parking spaces beginning next week, to house the road construction equipment which city fathers hope will be the tool to transform the square and one and a half blocks of Third Avenue into a gathering place.

The project will ultimately slim the street from four to two lanes, widen sidewalks and add roundabouts to the section of Third Avenue. Several parking spots will be removed from the adjacent Sinkiuse Square to make way for a stage, landscaping and a rest room at the transformed plaza.

But for a time, the people who work and shop downtown every day will have to bear the construction work detouring motorists away from the district's core. Because of the nature of the project, the city has been working with businesses to try to accommodate them during the four-month construction period, and staff members have worked out a plan which will require the contractor to grant pedestrians access to downtown businesses each day.

The first workers with Ellensburg-based MRM Construction will be on site Monday, with MRM closing off the intersection of Division Street and Third Avenue Aug. 7. Contractors will begin at the Division intersection and work their way toward the post office over the next four months, according to city of Moses Lake project engineer Richard Law. The intersection of Ash Street and Third Avenue will be open through most of August, he said.

"The current plan is to concentrate on that intersection and get it back in service as soon as possible," Law said last week.

The city has worked to coordinate traffic signals and create detours for commuters who travel Third Avenue and Division Street each day to navigate. Detours primarily utilize the adjacent Broadway and Fourth avenues and Beech and Alder streets which surround the construction project.

Due to construction at the Third Avenue intersections of Ash and Division streets, portions of the streets on each of the four sides of the two intersections will also be closed off. Parking will still be allowed outside the project on Third Avenue between Division and Alder streets and between Ash and Beech streets. Law said motorists will be able to make U-turns from parking spots to leave the area.

MRM Construction was awarded a $1.92 million contract for the redesign earlier this year by the city council, part of the approximately $2.3 million downtown project. The contract is being funded primarily through bonding, and was the final action by the council after two years worth of study sessions and public meetings about downtown revitalization.

Law and Municipal Services Director Gary Harer said they have confidence in MRM Construction, which is currently completing a similar downtown project in Yakima. Harer said while merchants may be interrupted the city has tried to work to accommodate them during construction.

"We feel we've got an excellent contractor to work out and make this project go smoothly," Harer said.

To try and help business owners keep their doors open during the project, the city has required the contractor provide access to the front of businesses in the impacted area by noon each day. Law noted other stipulations include having the contractor provide a hard walking surface in the areas which meets building codes.

MRM and the city will hold weekly progress reports during construction, and Harer said that information will be relayed to the Moses Lake Business Association.

Contractors will be beginning one hour earlier than on most construction projects in the city, with work being done primarily on Monday through Thursday with some extra work on Fridays.

Water to the businesses could be shut down for a few hours at a time to certain businesses during construction, but Law said those merchants will be notified ahead of time.

The post office will be open throughout the construction period and while the Sinkiuse Square parking lot will be closed throughout construction, contractors must maintain access to the alley entrance off Fourth Avenue between the post office and the square.

Post office Postmaster Mark Shaw said earlier this week he wasn't expecting postal traffic to be impeded by the construction.

Because of the specific nature of the project, an array of street trees, traffic signals and light poles will have to be removed during construction. Law said crews will be removing the traffic signals and light poles Aug. 8.

Parks and Recreation Director Spencer Grigg said the city is trying to find a home for most of the trees currently lining Third Avenue. As many trees as can be salvaged will be moved to other places in the city, Grigg said, including at the site of the city's ice rink, also under construction.

City trees are being moved from the sidewalks, and the city's Fox Trot sculpture at the square will be moved during construction. When the project is complete, Law said it will include permanent pedestals for future sculptures.

Law said a small amount of finishing work will need to be done next spring, but construction work is scheduled to be done by the end of November. And he said because contractors are working from one side of the one and a half blocks to the other, certain aspects of the roadway could open earlier.

"We will try to have things open as soon as possible," Law said. "If the roads are usable prior to the square being done we will open the roads."