Funding delays push Sackman Road bridge project to 2026

OTHELLO — It’s taken a while and been delayed a couple of times, but the construction contract for replacement of the first of six bridges over the East Low Canal is scheduled to go out for bid later this year. Adams County Commission chair Dan Blankenship said that’s the plan right now, but commissioners want to be sure the twice-delayed project will meet all the criteria before they take action.  

Commissioners advertised for bids in 2025, only to put the project on hold due to changes in federal contract award requirements.  

“We aren’t going to go out for bid until we’re sure the federal (agencies) are happy with the rules,” Blankenship said. 

Sackman Road is one of six bridges in Adams County that will have to be rebuilt to accommodate widening of the East Low Canal. Widening the canal would allow surface water to be delivered to farmers in sections of Adams and Grant counties that now rely on groundwater.  

Irrigators in that section have been using groundwater wells since the 1960s when the development of the overall Columbia Basin project stopped, which puts pressure on the underlying aquifer.  

The total project cost is about $4.52 million. Adams County Engineer Scott Yeager told commissioners Tuesday that the design phase has reached a point where county officials can ask for federal funding to be released. The federal portion is about $3.88 million. 

Because the bridges cross the canal, the irrigation season dictates the construction schedule, Yaeger said. Construction has to wait until the irrigation season ends and the canal is empty.  

Originally, the replacement of the Sackman Road bridge was scheduled for 2024. It was rescheduled to 2025, and it was advertised for bids in summer 2025. The day after the bids were opened, Blankenship said, a federal judge ruled that the existing rules for awarding contracts were invalid. Commissioners were required to reject all bids as a result, he said. 

Federal and state officials are working on revising the rules, but the project had to be pushed back to 2026 regardless, Blankenship said. 

“It’s too late to do it this winter,” he said. 

About $3.8 million in federal funding has been allocated for a bridge on Booker Road. That project is still in its early stages, Blankenship said.  

County officials had secured federal funding for the remaining four bridges, he said, but the legislation confirming the funding stalled in Congress. County officials were required to start over. 

“We’re in the same position as we were about a year ago,” Blankenship said.  

Federal funding has tentatively been awarded again, he said, and seems to have a better chance of approval, but Blankenship said commissioners are not making any plans until they’re sure the money is available.