Improvements planned: Grant County heads toward Stratford Road work; roundabouts coming to two intersections

EPHRATA — Portions of Grape Drive Northeast and Maple Drive Northeast will be repaved and get new sidewalks in 2022 as part of the county’s Transportation Improvement Plan, which lists projects in a six-year timeframe.

Grant County Public Works Director Sam Castro said the list is a way to ensure projects are ready for funding, when funding becomes available.

Grant County engineer Keith Elefson said Monday, during a public hearing by the Grant County commissioners, county officials plan to upgrade Grape Drive from state Route 17 to the intersection with Maple Drive. Maple Drive will be upgraded from the Grape Drive intersection to Stratford Road.

Grape and Maple drives’ upgrades include getting excavated, and the roadbed being rebuilt and repaved. Sidewalks and curbs will be added on both Maple and Grape on the entire length of the project, Elefson said. The total project cost for the Grape-Maple improvements was estimated at about $1.5 million.

The Washington State Department of Transportation has scheduled construction of a multi-lane roundabout at the intersection of Grape Drive and state Route 17 in 2022, according to the agency’s website. There was no estimated cost for the roundabout.

The county will pay about $115,150 of the cost of the construction of a roundabout at the intersection of White Trail Road and state Route 28, about three miles west of Quincy, which is scheduled by WSDOT in 2022, and expected to cost $2.3 million.

A 4-mile section of Stratford Road is scheduled for chip-sealing, from Road 17 Northeast to the railroad crossing near the town of Stratford. The estimated cost is about $850,000.

Chip-sealing involves applying a mix of rock and hot tar to a surface. Drainage along the road will be improved as well.

Another section of Stratford Road is scheduled for improvements in 2023, and planning and design for that project will begin in 2022, Elefson said, with a projected cost of about $100,000.

County officials have secured funding to rebuild Cochran Road and a section of Ottmar Road north of Moses Lake, but Elefson said the project might be delayed until 2023.

“We’ve got a little work to do there,” he said.

Cochran Road will be rebuilt from Airway Drive to Ottmar Road, then Ottmar will be rebuilt from the Cochran intersection to Valley Road. The road will be excavated, the roadbed rebuilt, the road repaved and sidewalks and gutters added. But Elefson said county officials still must resolve some right-of-way issues.

The estimated cost for the Cochran-Ottmar project is about $1.08 million.

County officials also have plans to fix ADA access to sidewalks throughout Grant County and complete other sidewalk upgrades in 2022. The county plans to spend about $100,000 on sidewalk improvements during 2022.

Planning and design work also will begin on a section of Road 9 Northwest south of Ephrata, from its intersection with state Route 283 to its intersection with Dodson Road. Design is projected to cost about $148,000.