Poe lands contract for Union Flat paving

Poe Asphalt of Pullman Tuesday was awarded an $868,287 contract to repave just over five miles of the Wawawai-Pullman Road. Poe was the lowest of three bidders on the project.

The firm will repave the road from the top of Steptoe Canyon at Smith Road north along Union Flat to the Hatley Road intersection. The county estimated the price tag at $938,898.

Also bidding were Central Washignton Asphalt of Moses Lake at $872,248.96 and Motley and Motley of Pullman at $1,057,748.29.

Bulk of the cost of the project will be paid out of federal funding made available through the Surface Transportation Improvement Program.

Bids will be opened next week on an estimated $400,000 project to repave another 2.5 miles of the road, from the Hatley Road to the State Route 194 intersection west of Pullman.

Public Works Director Mark Storey said the construction was split into two segments to comply with local funding mandates tied to the federal funding that will be used for the first portion.

Cost of the second will paid primarily with county dollars.

Also Tuesday, crews wrapped up paving Almota Road from the Duncan Springs Road intersection south to the Wilcox Road intersection just north of Union Flat Creek.

Paving was done by Seubert Excavators of Cottonwood, under a subcontract with lead contractor DeAtley Construction of Clarkston. Asphalt came from Poe.

That stretch is phase two of a four-phase project to rebuild the entire road from Colfax to the top of the Almota grade. The next two phases are planned to be finished in the next five to ten years. First phase of the Almota Road project, from Airport Road south to Duncan Springs Road, was completed in 2007.