Othello intersection to be improved

Numerous collisions lead to safety concern

OTHELLO — Othello citizens could see improvements to a dangerous intersection in the future.

Othello was awarded a $550,000 Intersection Corridor Grant in April 2006 to make improvements to roadways deemed dangerous through WSDOT studies.

"We have a problem in certain areas," WSDOT Program Manager Paul Mahre said. "We've known this has been a problem since 1997."

The intersection of First Avenue and state Route 26 and areas along SR 26 are high accident locations (HAL) and high accident corridors (HAC), he said.

At the intersection there were 29 documented collisions where 39 people were injured between 1999 and 2004, according to city documents.

The ultimate goal of the project is to improve the safety of the intersection and other designated areas in Othello.

Council agreed to allow WSDOT to handle the administrative tasks of the grant in order to pursue more funding from legislators.

The grant will be used to begin preliminary engineering and design of the project, Mahre said.

Before the design of the project comes public input.

WSDOT will meet with Othello business owners to discuss concerns and will host open houses in the future asking the public for suggestions on how the intersection and other trouble areas could be handled.

The open houses are not scheduled yet.