Major upgrades coming to Westshore Drive next summer

MOSES LAKE — Drivers who use Westshore Drive can get an overview of the work planned for spring 2025 along Westshore Drive, and get their questions answered, at a meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Moses Lake Country Club, 1373 at Road F.2 NE.

Grant County Engineer David Bren said work on Westshore that was planned for 2026 has been moved forward to 2025.

“Suddenly (funding) became very available, and we had to spend it right away,” Bren said.

The Moses Lake School District is purchasing property at the intersection of Westshore Drive and Road 4 NE to build a new elementary school, and a 2.12-mile section of Westshore leading to the school will get a major rebuild. The work is scheduled to begin in March 2025, with projected completion in July.

Total project cost is about $2.7 million. About $2.4 million will be paid through a federal grant, with about $300,000 paid by Grant County, Bren said.

That section of Westshore will be repaved, with curbs, gutters and sidewalks on both sides of the road and new crosswalks. The speed limit for that section will drop to 25 miles per hour, with radar enforcement and traffic signs announcing that. 

Bren said the goal is to improve safety along that section of Westshore, especially when children start walking and riding bikes to and from school. 

“The safety situation is going to fundamentally change with the new elementary school,” he said. 

County officials had obtained funding for improvements to Westshore a few years ago, but the initial funding was not enough, he said. 

“The costs have gone up for these projects,” he said, in some cases by as much as 40%.

County officials are working on a number of road projects for 2025, Bren said, most of which have been funded. But due to the nature of state and federal funding, projects can be rescheduled. Planned upgrades to sections of Grape Drive and Maple Drive north of State Route 17 are an example — they were scheduled for 2025, but have been moved back to 2026.

County officials have obtained federal funding for the replacement of Bridge 247 north of Warden. The bridge will be widened to allow widening of the irrigation canal it crosses, which will provide access to surface water to farmers further east, who now use groundwater for irrigation. 

The project cost a little more than $4 million, all paid for through a federal grant, Bren said.

Federal funds also are being used to pay the bulk of a project planned for Desert Aire Drive next year. Bren said it too is designed to improve pedestrian safety, since the road gets a lot of pedestrian use.

“We’re going to have a separate gravel trail, so we can separate the people and the cars,” he said. 

The new trail will extend from the intersection at State Route 243 and Desert Aire Drive to the boat launch at the Columbia River. Along with the trail, traffic circles will be added at five intersections. 

Total project cost is about $340,000, with $294,100 coming from a federal grant. 

Traffic circles have the same purpose as — but are not - roundabouts, Bren said, which is to slow down traffic. The traffic circles in Desert Aire will be designed so that commercial trucks can drive over the edges.

A section of Stratford Road also is scheduled for repaving in 2025, from Road 20 NE to the crossing of the BNSF tracks, about 3 miles. That too is federally funded, and Bren said that project must be completed or the county will lose the money. 

County officials also will be working to upgrade Drumheller Road south of State Route 17, which would provide alternative north-south access from Mae Valley. The first phases will be grading sections of the road to make it easier to travel, Bren said, then graveling it. The work is projected to take several years, he said.

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