Yonezawa Boulevard project delayed, awaiting growth plan

MOSES LAKE — Revisions of the intersection at Yonezawa Boulevard and Pioneer Way were postponed in 2021, and might not happen in 2022, due to a study recommended in the city’s Comprehensive Plan.

And another project tentatively scheduled for 2021, repaving Valley Road, has been postponed until 2022.

Yonezawa Boulevard ends at the Pioneer Way intersection, but the plan is to extend Yonezawa through the intersection and connect it with Moses Lake Avenue, the access road to Vicki Groff Elementary School.

Traffic at the Yonezawa Boulevard/Pioneer Way intersection is controlled with a traffic light, and city officials planned to keep the traffic light as of early 2021.

However, that section of Pioneer Way is part of state Route 17, and Washington Department of Transportation officials required a study on traffic impacts at that intersection. In addition, Moses Lake city officials are in the process of updating the city’s Comprehensive Plan, which included a review of current traffic flows and how growth might affect traffic in the future.

Moses Lake City Manager Allison Williams said Wednesday the traffic study concluded the Yonezawa Boulevard/Pioneer Way intersection won’t be able to accommodate the traffic in the long term, if current growth trends continue. The intersection would still be workable through 2040, but traffic would outstrip capacity by 2043. Neither a traffic light nor a roundabout would be workable by that time, according to the study.

Authors of the traffic study recommended developing a growth plan specifically for the area around Yonezawa Boulevard. The plan would include recommendations on the mix of residential and commercial development and how to build roads to accommodate the anticipated traffic.

Most of the land between Yonezawa Boulevard and Interstate 90 is undeveloped, although a new Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple is under construction in that area. In addition, Samaritan Healthcare officials purchased land at the intersection of Yonezawa Boulevard and South Clover Drive to build the new Samaritan Hospital.

There’s also undeveloped land between state Route 17 and Road L Northeast, some of which is farmland. Part of that area is outside the current city limits.

The planned extension of Yonezawa Boulevard pushed back a tentative plan to repave the portion of Valley Road from Paxson Drive to Stratford Road.

Valley Road will get a major makeover, with the existing pavement and underlying roadbed removed and rebuilt. The first phase of the Valley Road project, the installation of new water lines along a portion of Loop Drive and Valley Road, was completed in 2020.