Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Funding for the continuation of Palouse’s Whitman Street project remains to be found after the state’s Transportation Improvement Board turned down the city’s application Nov. 21.
The $380,000 request would have funded a 500-foot section of the street to be completely replaced from Bridge Street west to Mill Street. The project would also require an additional $250,000 for replacement of a 100-year-old railroad line which runs up the middle of the downtown street.
Earlier this year, however, the Washington State Department of Transportation began to work with Palouse on the rail section, committing $30,000 for design and planning work.
“So that’s moving forward,” said Palouse Mayor Michael Echanove.
The rails would have to be completely replaced, including ties.
“From top to bottom,” Echanove said.
The rail line is used to ship products from Bennett Lumber in Princeton through Potlatch to the rail link at Palouse.
After the first section of Whitman Street was replaced in 2008, the city again sought funding this year after first petitioning the T.I.B. to have Whitman Street reclassified as an arterial which makes it eligible for T.I.B. funding. The street was deemed an arterial in part because of its usage by school buses, the active grain elevator on the street, as well as the Busch Distributors gas station.
The 2008 reconstruction of a previous 600-foot section of Whitman Street, from Bridge Street east to Hall Street was funded by a line item in a state capital projects budget.
Munir Daud of Pullman was the engineer on the work and has been retained for the effort on the new Whitman Street section. Daud assisted Palouse with this year’s T.I.B. application.
If the city was awarded the T.I.B. grant, they still would need the estimated $250,000 for the railroad work. Echanove has been working on ways to fund that through channels in Olympia.
“Stay tuned,” he said. “I speak very highly of T.I.B. We didn’t get funded this year but that’s okay. It’s a long-term project.”
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
Reader Comments(0)