Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
COLFAX–– Whitman County Public Works recently held several discussions with the Department of Transportation (DOT) concerning undeveloped land in Pullman.
Mark Storey, Public Works Director of Whitman County, brought up the discussion and plans made by Public Works with the Whitman County Commissioners on Monday, May 1, regarding the land.
Storey reported that roughly 5-6 years ago legislature in Washington State corrected DOT to consider dispensing State Route (SR) 276 right-of-way around the north end of Pullman.
“Part of that was in preparation of reconstruction on the airport runway because of the safety zone,” Storey said. “They ended up saying basically they are never going to build the SR276, and at that time, they sold part of that land to the City of Pullman to accommodate the runway realignment.”
Storey noted in the meeting that a lot of rights-of-way had been purchased sometime in the mid-1970s from 195 towards the north end of Pullman.
“There is a huge block of land there that is basically undeveloped where the DOT owns that right of way,” he added.
Storey reports that when trying to get rid of the right-of-way, the county must find another local agency or agencies that can use the undeveloped right-of-way for transportation purposes at the highest level.
A suitable transportation agency has yet to be defined for use and transportation purposes.
Following the offer from the state, the city and county began their examination process. They hired Parametric Engineering to develop a concept plan for an arterial roadway around the north end of Pullman. This was concluded sometime around Christmas.
Storey reports that around that time, DOT asked the county and city to report back which parts of the right-of-way the city and county wanted to take over. He added that DOT said whatever the city and county didn’t want would be dispensed.
“So we went back to DOT and said we are ready for what we want to take over, and DOT basically told us you take all or nothing,” said Storey. “This frustrated us on the committee because the reason we did the study and the basic layout of an arterial was to satisfy that need to determine what we actually needed.”
Public Works held a meeting last week to discuss this issue. Storey reported that DOT once again offered the entire area, or plans would be made to get rid of it some other way.
“So the county is going to be faced, I believe, in the fairly near future, with the idea of accepting that right-of-way from DOT with all its conditions and terms or rejecting it completely rather than just taking parts and pieces.”
Regarding conditions, some of what’s attached are limited access and complete control of parts of the right of way. Since this purchase was made with federal money, federal strings will also be attached to it.
“If we take on the right of way and don’t have limited access or full control access, as what was originally envisioned, then we probably have to pay back some of that cost,” noted Storey.
The next step for the city and county is to decide the desire to take on the whole right-of-way collectively.
Storey noted that some spots of the area are as wide as 400ft to accommodate interchanges on ramps, off ramps, and all kinds of things.
“I think the board needs to know this is going in a different direction than what was originally envisioned,” he said. “I think my opinion, personally, would be that it would be better off taking this right of way and seeing if we can develop it to a road someday. Not putting a timeline or dollar limit on it just so we have a roadway that connects to the northside of Pullman to the freeway.”
The commissioners will now have to decide on doing all or nothing, accepting the right of way from DOT and all the federal restrictions on how the county will use it.
“Just the county portion is probably a 25 million-dollar project. That would be a huge project in itself. There are a lot of conditions, and it’s a lot of money in the future that we don’t have,” Storey said.
Olivia Harnack is a Journalist at the Whitman County Gazette. Olivia is enrolled at University of Idaho and is majoring in digital film studies. She serves in the United States Army National Guard and is proud to serve Whitman County.
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