NW Despain project will proceed as designed
By Terry Murry on Thursday, May 23rd, 2024 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
PENDLETON – The Pendleton City Council has approved going ahead with rebuilding Northwest Despain Avenue this summer after a close vote to reconsider. Residents were not pleased with the bulb outs that are proposed for intersections in the area and felt the city had communicated last year that they would not be part of the plan.
Mayor John Turner said engineers knew not to widen the street, but did not realize there had also been talk about removing the bulb outs for pedestrians crossing the street. The design, therefore, still included those changes for safety reasons. The council tied 4-4 on a vote to send the design back to the drawing board once again.
“For the first time in seven and a half years, I had to vote,” Turner said of the deadlock. “It was the first time we’ve had a tie and my thought was that the need to move ahead with the project outweighed the dislike of bulb outs.”
The project had already been postponed a year for the redesign that eliminated widening the road. With costs of construction going up, Turner felt it would not be fiscally responsible to wait another year.
