Members of the Lewis County Board of Commissioners and Centralia City Council preferred this option of four for Borst Avenue rehab presented by SCJ Alliance during a workshop meeting in April 2017.
Representatives from Lewis County, the city of Centralia and SCJ Alliance contractors gathered at Centralia City Hall in advance of last week’s regularly scheduled city council meeting in order to provide an update on plans for the Borst Avenue sidewalk improvement project.
While the anticipated end date is still more than a year and half off, those involved in the project expressed their delight with how far the plans have come since the longstanding issue resurfaced when concerned Centralia High School students came forward in 2016.
In November 2017, the project, which would put a wide sidewalk on the north side of Borst Avenue in order to provide safe travel for students and other citizens traveling to and from Centralia High School and middle school, was awarded $3,787,140 from the state Transportation Improvement Board.
“That was the easy part. We’ve got an awful lot of work between now and when we can actually have kids walk on it,” said Brandon Johnson, of SCJ Alliance.
The next phase of the project will involve the creation of a preliminary design for the necessary sidewalk and road adjustments. A mockup of what the finished project might look like includes a 10-foot sidewalk that would be separated from the road by a 3-foot drainage median. The two-lane road would be split into two 11-foot wide lanes of travel with no shoulder on the south side of the street.
Johnson noted that those plans are subject to change and added that the most important goal for the project, aside from pedestrian safety, is to ensure that there are no right-of-way conflicts for any of the 62 property owners along the route. In order to finalize those plans, Johnson noted that a topographic study will need to be conducted, which he implied the county would pay for.
Preliminary design work is slated to begin in February and be completed by June. With those plans in hand, SCJ will then work to resolve any right of way issues by November in order to meet a December 2018 deadline for a final design.
Bids for construction will likely be advertised in January of 2019 with construction scheduled to begin in March and end in October.
One detail that is still hanging in the balance is the future of the orange and black painted Tiger paw prints that dot the middle of Borst Avenue and lead from the middle school to the high school. Because the project encompasses both city and county land, those types of decisions are subject to numerous nods of approval.
“Erik says we can talk about the Tiger paw at a later date,” said Centralia Public Works Director Kim Ashmore, who is also a Centralia School Board member, in reference to Lewis County Public Works Director Erik Martin.
Johnson cautioned that numerous other details, such as what sort of foliage will grace the drainage median and how exactly right-of-way access will be obtained from residences on the north side of the street, are still up for consideration at this time. However, he added that the overall picture is beginning to become more clear.
“I kind of start smiling about it when I’m talking about it because it’s just really exciting and long overdue to keep kids safe to and from school,” said Johnson, who expects the redesign to be viable for traffic demands for between 30 and 50 years, if not longer.
Mayor Pro-Tem Max Vogt was one of several Centralia city councilors to express their enthusiasm for the project.
“I’m really excited for this project because it really puts Centralia on the map as looking toward the future,” said Vogt. “This is the type of urban planning and development that people want to see so they can get out of their cars and walk, or bike. It’s just going to revamp that whole area.”
The total estimated cost of the project is $5,049,520. The city of Centralia is currently calculated to be on the hook for $747,395 of that price tag while Lewis County is in line to pay $514,985 toward the bill.
