Sand Road project complete

With crews performing final cleanup last week on the Sand Road safety improvement work, the last items to take care of were large rocks to be removed, soft spot repairs and dispersing unnecessary dirt piles.

“The final touch-up,” said Public Works Director Mark Storey.

Sand Road is a $1.8 million project to improve safety over a span of four miles near Pullman.

Last fall and continuing this spring, contractor M.A. DeAtley Constuction out of Clarkston blasted through a basalt rock bluff in order to lessen the angles on a stretch of S-curves two miles south of Highway 270.

DeAtley’s successful bid for the Sand Road contract last July was $1,816,621.

Frank Gurney Inc. of Spokane Valley installed the guardrail.

In one area of the project, a pocket of clay was hit. The soft spot in the new alignment was harder to grade, and that led to work being held over while ground remained frozen.

The project widened the 24-to-26-foot road to 28-to-30 feet.

Sand Road intersects with Johnson Road southeast of Pullman and extends east to the Idaho border.