Port of ML to pave sidewalk

MOSES LAKE — In the grand scheme of things, putting in a couple hundred feet of sidewalk along Patton Boulevard south of Endeavor Middle school is a small project for the Port of Moses Lake.

Not when compared with replacing a portion of the Grant County International Airport’s 13,000-foot-long main runway, or a large industrial park, or a new hangar building.

But a short stretch of paved sidewalk at the southeast corner of Patton Boulevard and Randolph Road could be the port’s first community improvement project, designed not to expand operations at the sprawling Port of Moses Lake, but to help the local community.

The idea was set into motion by the port’s facilities director, Milton Miller, who saw kids from Endeavor Middle School walking to the Airport Grocery Mart along the side of the road, and thought something needed to be done to make the walk easier.

“I saw kids walking in the street and thought somebody should do something,” Miller said during a regular public meeting of the Port of Moses Lake commission on Monday. “Kids use that road often before, after and during lunch.”

Port commissioners approved the project, which Miller estimated would cost the port between $100,000 and $125,000 dollars, and agreed to create a small committee of local residents to evaluate future small public improvement projects the port could fund.

“It shows people we’re here,” Miller added. “We do projects on port property, but no one knows what we do.”

The port would budget around $150,000 every year for the community improvement project, and ideas would be solicited from residents.

“I like the idea of getting community input,” said port commissioner Stroud Kunkle.

While the Port of Moses Lake approved the small sidewalk project, executive director Don Kersey said there’s no timetable for construction since the port still needs to coordinate construction with the city of Moses Lake and the Moses Lake School District.