Construction contract award delayed for Yonezawa Boulevard project

MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake city officials have not awarded a construction contract for revisions at the intersection of Yonezawa Boulevard and Pioneer Way because they must coordinate with the state Department of Transportation. Total project cost also has not been determined.

But Lynne Lynch, Moses Lake public information officer, said the contract will have to be awarded by June for the project to avoid being shut down by winter weather. The project also prompted city officials to delay resurfacing a section of Valley Road tentatively scheduled for 2021 to 2022, Lynch said.

The project will extend Yonezawa Boulevard through the existing intersection to an access road connecting the new Vicki Groff Elementary School with Yonezawa Boulevard. That section of Pioneer Way is also part of state Route 17, and the city must get permission from the Washington State Department of Transportation for access.

“We are working with WSDOT on access requirements, but the process is taking longer than originally anticipated,” Lynch said.

The new Vicki Groff Elementary School is scheduled to open this fall. Moses Lake Avenue provides access to the school campus from East Nelson Road. It will be one lane in each direction.

The Yonezawa extension will end at the Moses Lake Avenue intersection, and be just like the existing road on the west side of Pioneer Way, with two lanes in each direction, center turn lanes and landscaped sections dividing the east-west lanes, called “center islands.”

Currently, the intersection is controlled by a stoplight and city officials plan to keep the stoplight. But because it’s also a state highway, that, too, will have to be approved by the Department of Transportation.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].