Soap Lake receives $2.15M streets grant

SOAP LAKE — The city of Soap Lake will be doing some work on its streets in 2024 with the help of a $2.15 million grant from the Washington Transportation Improvement Board. 

Michael Woodkey of Gray and Osborne, the city’s engineers, told Soap Lake City Council members it’s a short-term fix.

“This is a three to five, maybe seven years if you’re lucky, band-aid,” Woodkey said. “It’s not the perfect fix.”

A study by Gray and Osborne about two years ago estimated the city had about $30 to $40 million in road repairs, he said. 

Alex Kovach, the city planner and building official said which streets will be upgraded is still a work in progress.

“The engineers provided a preliminary map at the last council meeting, but it is subject to changes as they go through design and planning,” Kovach wrote in response to a question from the Columbia Basin Herald.

Woodkey told council members that the selected streets will be covered with what he called scrub seal.

“It’s kind of a better chip seal type of treatment,” Woodkey said. “It’ll seal up the cracks a lot better.” 

The process is similar to chip-sealing, but includes a step to push the chip-seal material into the existing cracks, according to information from RoadResource.org.

“Some of your streets are so far deteriorated that some of the cheap fixes won’t work,” Woodkey said. “This is TIB’s shot to get you back on track.”

The preliminary street work map includes Fir Street North, Lakeshore Drive and Juniper Street North, all to the city limits; Second Avenue SW from State Route 17 to the city limits, Main Avenue East from SR 17 to Eastlake Avenue, and Eastlake Avenue to Third Avenue NE. Sixth Avenue SE from SR 17 to Division Street SE and Canna Street from Second Avenue SE to Sixth Avenue SE also are included. But that list, Kovach said, is subject to change.

“There is a balance to achieve between fund limits, which roads are in most need and which are eligible,” Kovach wrote. “The engineers will do a complete analysis to make sure the city is getting the most from the TIB grant. Some roads may be added or deleted from this preliminary map.”

Some streets are in very poor repair and as a result, would cost more to fix, Kovach wrote. Others have more traffic and are a higher priority as a result. Some roads are scheduled to be torn up and rebuilt as part of other projects, and TIB officials asked that anything scheduled for work within the next three years be excluded from this project. A section of Dogwood was excluded because it’s scheduled to be torn up as part of a project to upgrade a sewer lift station, Woodkey said. 

Sections of street could be added or subtracted as the design work continues, he said. 

Cheryl Schweizer may be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com. 

    Streets marked in red and green are candidates for improvements in 2024.