Safety improvement project on Booker Road, east of Othello, moves forward

RITZVILLE — Moses Lake-based Central Washington Asphalt Inc. submitted the low bid of $319,000 for a federally funded project to add rumble strips at the intersection of Booker Road and state Route 26, east of Othello.

Adams County Engineer Scott Yaeger said the road safety project is scheduled to start in early June, with construction through mid-July. Booker Road will be closed, so drivers will have to use a detour route.

Yaeger said Booker Road on the north side of the intersection will be repaved to allow the installation of rumble strips. The road on the south side of the intersection won’t need to be repaved, and it will just get rumble strips.

The installation is called “advanced stop rumble strips,” he said.

“It gives you an alert that you need to stop,” Yaeger said.

There is a flashing warning sign at the intersection, as well as a flashing stop sign, but drivers still run the Booker Road stop signs, he said.

County officials are working on a plan with the Washington State Department of Transportation and the East Columbia Irrigation District to make further changes to the intersection, Yaeger said. Those would include improving sight lines for drivers on Booker Road and additional warning signs on state Route 26.