Rosalia to call for Whitman Ave. project bids

A manhole is inspected on Whitman Avenune in preparation for an upcoming reconstruction project on the secondary highway to Rosalia. Mayor Nanette Konishi said workers here were trying to identify the start and stop line of that particular sewer line. Photo courtesy Mike Day.

The Town of Rosalia is preparing for a reconstruction project of Whitman Avenue between 8th Street and the south city limits, according to a press release sent by Mayor Nanette Konishi Tuesday.

The project, which is scheduled to go to bid in mid-May with construction expected to start by the end of June, has several components which will improve and widen the roadway in some places.

“Whitman Avenue was originally known as State Road No. 3 and constructed with 10 inch concrete panels approximately 27 feet wide in 1931,” Konishi wrote in her press release. “Through the years there have been numerous asphalt overlays and widening portions of the original State Road. The new project will remove the existing concrete panels and replace them with new base rock and add a five inch thick asphalt pavement surface to the roadway.”

Konishi said the project is being designed by J-U-B Engineers of Spokane and will be funded through the Washington State Transportation Improvement Board, just as other projects have been previously.

“All of the rest of the work that has been done in the past on Whitman Avenue has been TIB funding,” Konishi said. “TIB funds projects on highways and sidewalk preservation, and Whitman is the secondary highway for 195.”

New curb and gutter is expected to be part of the project, with this being projected for existing sidewalk in areas which require repairs.

“They've already scouted out places where the sidewalk is crumpled and broken or heaved up badly because of the trees,” Konishi said.

Konishi said Whitman Avenue between 9th and the south city limits, which is currently 22-24 feet in width, is expected to be widened to 39-40 feet in width in certain areas. Whitman Avenue between 8th and 9th streets will remain the same width as now exists, which is 39-40 feet.

“It's already been widened,” Konishi said. “It's wider already, and it will just be paved out to where the curbs will be.”

Some of those curbs will be added from 9th Street to Josephine along the east side of Whitman Avenue in order to provide parallel parking at the Rosalia school.

“Right now, there's a section in front of the school where people have been parking facing the playground, and we're finishing off the whole sidewalk,” Konishi said. “It will be parallel parking, and it will look nice.”

Konishi said the town is ready for this project.

“It's been a long time coming,” she said. “We're excited to have it completed.”