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.
A Centralia road that has long been the source of safety concerns is now scheduled to undergo improvements in 2019 after the Borst Avenue project was awarded $3,787,140 from the state Transportation Improvement Board on Friday.
The announcement was made by Erik Martin, the Lewis County’s public works director, during the Board of Lewis County Commissioners regularly scheduled meeting on Monday.
The road has for a long time caused safety concerns due to its lack of sidewalks, which forces students on their way to Centralia High School into the roadway.
“Thank you to the city of Centralia, thank you commissioners and thank you to our consultants SCJ Alliance,” Martin said. “This is really good news.”
Plans for the roadway include a two-way street, with a path on one side of the road, separated by a median.
The application for funding was submitted in August under the physical conditions category for TIB funding. The move to submit it under that particular category made the project more competitive for funding, Martin said.
The remainder of the project costs — about $1.3 million — will be required in match from the county and the city of Centralia since the road is located in both jurisdictions.
There’s a lot of work that still needs to be done prior to when the project is supposed to go to bid and be constructed in 2019. Martin said the design, permitting and right of way acquisitions would likely take place next year, and also stated Centralia has an extensive utility relocation project that needs to be completed.
Kim Ashmore, the public works director for Centralia, said the city will need to move water meters off of the existing right of way so they do not sit in the pathway or the road. The city is also looking at whether wastewater pipes and underground utilities need to be replaced prior to the start of construction.
“It feels great,” Ashmore said, acknowledging the partnerships it took to make the project happen. “… To get almost $3.8 million is a big slice of the pie to construct that project. From a community standpoint, it’s a project that’s been needed for a long time.”
In 2016, a group of Centralia students brought the issue back to the forefront when they urged the commissioners, the Centralia City Council and the Centralia School District School Board to address the street.
“This is something that has been put off for far too long,” then Centralia High School student Morgan Fast said at a meeting in February 2016. She spoke about the “terrible walking conditions” that affected students.
Ashmore, a school board member, said the students’ presentations were a good reminder and a subtle push to move the project forward.
“They deserve a lot of credit,” he said. “They took the initiative to make this a priority.”
City and county officials have a meeting scheduled for Nov. 28 to discuss the next steps in more detail.
