Alder/Poplar project is on the agenda

By Terry Murry on Wednesday, March 9th, 2022 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories

WALLA WALLA – The Walla Walla City Council meets tonight (Wednesday) at 6:30 p.m. and is expected to award the bid for the Alder/Poplar – Merriam to Colville reconstruction project to Culbert Construction in the amount of more than $6.8 million. If approved, construction is scheduled to begin next month.

The project will reconstruct Alder Street from Merriam to Palouse, Poplar Street from Alder to Colville, and Palouse Street from Birch to the alley south of Mill Creek. The three traffic signals at the intersections of Alder/Park, Alder/Palouse, and Poplar/Palouse, will be removed and replaced with roundabouts. Other improvements include replacing water, sewer, and storm systems, adding bicycle lanes, street lighting, and pedestrian accessibility and safety improvements. Construction is expected to be completed this December.

The council is also expected to authorize a contract with David Evans and Associates for public outreach and preparation of grant applications related to the potential removal of the Sixth Avenue bridge which crosses Mill Creek, replacing it with a pedestrian structure. The council is also considering, pending public outreach, applying for a Washington State Department of Transportation bridge program grant to remove and replaces bridges crossing Mill Creek at Fourth Avenue with a vehicular bridge and at Fifth Avenue with a pedestrian bridge. The contract with David Evans and Associates is not to exceed $47,608.

Tonight’s city council meeting will be held in-person, but members of the public may opt to view it on the city’s website or via Zoom. The meeting ID number is 891 1795 7110.