ML Council approves 2022 chip seal work

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake City Council voted unanimously to spend nearly $1 million on the city’s 2022 chip seal and crack sealing efforts on 38 streets — including the entirety of West Peninsula Drive — inside the city.

“This is part of an ongoing pavement preservation program,” City Engineer Richard Law told council at a regular meeting on Tuesday. “The more we can keep routine maintenance on the street, the longer the substrate and these streets will last.”

The council voted to award a $925,000 contract to Ephrata-based Tommer Construction for this year’s chip seal and crack sealing program, which will focus largely on streets on the Peninsula. The city engineer estimated the cost of the project at $900,000, budgeted $1 million and rejected a $1.3 bid from Moses Lake-based Central Washington Asphalt for the work.

Law told the Columbia Basin Herald after the meeting that the contract has not yet been finalized, so work should begin sometime in August and is expected to last several weeks.

All 38 streets on the city’s list for work this summer are on the peninsula, prompting some questions from city council members.

“How does the city determine which streets will get done? Are there priorities?” asked Council Member Deanna Martinez.

Law said city road crews both observe the condition of city streets and keep a rotating list of streets and regions of the city in need of improvement.

“We track when streets were last done,” he said. “We give streets a grade and those in need of work head to the top of the list.”

Law said the city’s chip seal work is different than that done on county roads. Work crews improving city streets will use a roller to press down the gravel and tar spread atop city streets, whereas county work crews will not, and allow motorists traveling over a roadway to press the gravel down over time.

“Will it impact traffic flow?” Martinez asked.

“It always does,” Law said, noting that the city will go door-to-door in affected neighborhoods letting residents know when the chip sealing or crack sealing work will take place in order to make sure cars are off the street.

“So we can get the oil and chips down,” he said.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com

Is your street in the mix?

Streets included in the city’s chip seal and crack seal efforts this summer include:

Battery Road

Barbara Avenue

Bayside Street

Birch Street

Burress Avenue

Catalpa Street

Crabapple Court

Crawford Lane

Driftwood Lane

Driggs Drive

Everett Place

Glenmore Drive

Harborview Street

Hermit Road

Interlake Road

Lakeport Lane

Lakeside Drive

Lakeshore Court.

Lakeshore Drive

Linnea Street

Lystil Street

Mariner Lane

Melva Lane

Michael Avenue

Wesley Place

William Avenue

Willow Street

Winona Street

Peninsula Drive

Pommer Street

Poplar Street

Sycamore Lane

Trillium Way

Wanapum Drive

Wapato Drive

Waterford Lane

Yakima Avenue