Bids awarded for Soap Lake street rebuilding, resurfacing
Bids have been awarded on a project to resurface a number of Soap Lake streets, such as Sixth Street SE, in need of repair.
File photo
SOAP LAKE — No start date has been established for two street repair projects planned for Soap Lake this summer. Contracts for the projects were awarded by the Soap Lake City Council last week.
Tommer Construction, Ephrata, was awarded the bid on a project to resurface streets throughout town in an effort to prolong their life. Tommer bid $992,000. The city received a grant from the Washington Transportation Improvement Board to pay all the costs of the project.
Selected streets will be resurfaced with a process known as scrub seal. Michael Woodkey of Gray and Osborne, the city’s engineers, said in an earlier interview that scrub sealing will slow down the deterioration of city streets. It’s similar to a chip seal, but it includes a step to push the rock and tar material into the existing cracks.
It won’t be a permanent fix, though, Woodkey said.
“It’s a good technique to do when your streets are in okay shape,” Woodkey told council members in December. “What it’s intended to do is preserve what we can of the street network.
“Where we do get some extra life out of this, that’s what we’re hoping for,” Woodkey said. “We’re hoping to get seven to 10 years of life on some streets.”
Some Soap Lake streets are in such poor condition they’re not candidates for scrub sealing. Others 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. Some streets have more traffic and are a higher priority as a result.
Rudnick & Sons, Okanogan, was awarded the bid to rebuild a section of Main Avenue West between Cherry and Gingko streets and a section of Marinas Drive and First Avenue Northeast. The cost is $1.48 million.
The city received a TIB grant to pay for all the work on Main Avenue West, and another TIB grant for 97% of the work on Marinas Drive and First Avenue Northeast. The city was required to provide a 3% match for that project.
Marinas Drive and First Avenue Northeast will be rebuilt with improved stormwater drainage. Pedestrian crossings will be upgraded; sidewalk work is planned, along with better lighting. Woodkey said in an earlier interview that the work will improve the access from Smokiam Park on the shore of Soap Lake to Main Street East.
The section of Main Avenue West also will be rebuilt, with improved stormwater drainage.
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.