Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Guardrails and a sidewalk will likely be installed by next year on a section of Park Road in Tekoa. Funding for the project will include a $733,000 grant from the Transportation Improvement Board.
Announced last week, the money will allow the two-tenths of a mile road section to be made more pedestrian and truck-friendly, as it connects around a curve at the southeast section of Tekoa.
The project will run from Howard Street to about 150-feet south where Park Street becomes Tekoa-Farmington Road.
Matt Morkert, project manager with Century West Engineering, said that the road will be extended from 18-20 feet wide to 35-feet including both lanes and shoulders as deemed by current state Department of Transportation design guidelines.
“It’s based on the radius and the curve and the (speed limit) of the road,” Morkert said.
The original width of the road fit the guidelines of the time.
“That’s just the way things were done in the ‘60s,” Morkert said.
He indicated that surveying work will begin as soon as possible, once the city executes the grant agreement with TIB.
Tekoa Mayor John Jaeger said he will work to get the project’s bid out to be complete by Aug. 1.
“That’s what we’re shooting for,” said Morkert. “There’s a lot of grain trucks going through there.”
Jaeger said if they can’t get the road project done before harvest they will delay the project.
“We don’t want the road tore up during harvest,” he said.
“We hope to get the funding to extend the improvement in subsequent years,” Morkert said.
He indicated the next segment could be a connection from Howard Street to Crosby Street and Highway 27.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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