New crosswalk with lights is first 2024 road project in Soap Lake

SOAP LAKE — A crosswalk with flashing lights to make it a little easier to cross Daisy Street South in Soap Lake will be installed sometime this spring. 

Soap Lake City Council members approved a contract for about $282,620 with Ascent Foundation, Cle Elum, during the regular meeting Feb.21. Michael Woodkey of Gray and Osborne, the city’s engineers, said the city received an additional grant for about $51,200 after bids were opened to pay costs that were higher than projected. 

Flashing lights will be installed at the crossing, to be activated when pedestrians want to cross the street. State Route 17 is Daisy Street South where it runs through Soap Lake. Soap Lake Police Chief Ryan Cox said the setup would be similar to crossing lights that already exist at the Grant County Courthouse and Columbia Basin Hospital in Ephrata. 

The crossing will be installed at Third Avenue Southeast, and Mayor Alan DePuy said he thought it might be better if it was closer to Main Avenue.

“I would love to see that crosswalk moved a little closer to downtown,” he said. 

Some Soap Lake residents with disabilities have talked to him, DePuy said, and asked for a crosswalk at East Main Avenue that would make it easier for them to get across the street. 

Council members Karen Woodhouse and Judith Gorman said they too thought the city needed a crosswalk at Main Avenue and SR 17.

“What is the reason for the crosswalk being where it is? Because it makes more sense to me to put it downtown,” she said.

DePuy said it’s his understanding that state officials are trying to promote walkability in general, and the crosswalk project is part of that trend. A crosswalk at Third Avenue would improve access to Lauzier Park, he said. 

Woodkey said the funding dates back to 2018, and the grant was part of an effort to improve safety for children walking to and from school.

“Third (Avenue) was designated as a safe crossing. It has the bulb-outs, and it also, I believe, was a school crossing,” Woodkey said. “It’s also the first legal crossing that’s far out there on the south end of town.”

Drivers coming off SR 17 and SR 28 aren’t always paying a lot of attention to the 30-miles-per-hour speed limit at Third Avenue Southwest, he said. By the time they get up to Main Avenue, speed limits are a little more apparent, and cars slow down.

Woodkey said there’s no date for the start of construction. 

“(The contractors) said as early as the second week of March, but we’re going to work with their schedule,” he said.

Since the project hasn’t started, there might still be an opportunity to shift the location, Woodkey said.

“We’d be happy to reach out to the DOT and say, ‘What would it take to change the scope of this project and move it from Third up to Main?” Woodkey said.

Even if the crosswalk remains where it is, city officials are looking at ways to build another crosswalk on Main Avenue.

“All is not lost, because we did apply recently for another grant for the west side sidewalks,” DePuy said. 

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