Butte-ification: Steptoe Butte road receives small makeover

Not many scenic photos of Steptoe Butte include a foreground of sunflowers. This field has been planted by Jon Scholz on the east side of Highway 195. The photo was taken just back of the butte information sign along the highway.

Two weeks ago, Whitman County commissioners sent a letter to the Washington State Parks, requesting the department to consider placing the Steptoe Butte State Park road on its top 100 capital improvement projects list.

“That road is in really bad shape. A lot worse than I thought,” Commissioner Art Swannack told the Board of County Commissioners Aug. 15. “It was not on their list of top 100 projects. I expected that to be on that capital project list.”

Though the road was not slated for improvement by the parks department, the Washington State Department of Transportation announced through a construction update news release Aug. 26 that the road would be closed for the majority of this week for asphalt paving. Commissioner Swannack was surprised when he heard the news.

“That’s good. This is really quick,” he said. “I imagine it (the letter) had a little bit to do with it, but I don’t know.”

The Board of County Commissioners sent the letter two weeks ago, and the WSDOT is completing some repair work on the road at the request of the parks department.

“I appreciate the quick response to getting it fixed,” said Swannack. “They’ve got some big holes to fix. There was no indication it was even on their capital list.”

Toni Droscher, spokesperson with the parks department, said the road had been something the department had been discussing, but they had not planned on doing anything major for a while. She described the work this week as preparatory.

“We’re getting the road ready for the heavy equipment that’s going to be coming through,” she said, indicating future work to take place. “WSDOT will be doing some asphalt paving.”

Senator Mark Schoesler, who told the Gazette two weeks ago that he considers Steptoe Butte to be one of the great treasures of the Palouse, said the improvements this week are a start, but more will still need to be done.

“I’m not certain that it’s up to the level of improvement we need,” he said.

Sen. Schoesler, R-Ritzville, said he is pleased Parks is at least starting to make improvements though.

“It will get us through the short-term, but in the long-term, we need better access,” he said. “They’re doing repairs, but I don’t believe it’s the quality we need.”

Droscher said after this week’s preparatory work, the road will again be closed from Sept. 6 at 6:30 a.m. through Sept. 9 at 5 p.m. and Sept. 12 at 6:30 a.m. to Sept. 16 at 5 p.m. for infrastructure work. At these times, large equipment such as cement trucks and cranes, will be on the road.

Sen. Schoesler said the repairs will help small motor vehicles and trucks to have better access to the butte, but he cited things such as tour and school busses that would still have trouble accessing the butte without more significant repairs.

“It is one of the key attractions in our area, and we need better access to it. It’s certainly a start,” he said. “I’m happy that Parks is responsive, but I think we need to make sure that we get the long-term quality improvements we need.”