Public Works updates on project status

COLFAX — Whitman County Commissioners gathered on Tuesday, Sept. 5, for their regular meeting moved from Monday, Sept. 4, to observe Labor Day.

Public Works Director Mark Storey reported three updates to the commissioners concerning construction and a new hire.

Storey said the first update was to the Scale Project, noting that on Tuesday, they were transferring over the electronics out of the scale. “We hope to have the new scale shack running by this evening,” Storey told the commissioners.

“In the next few days, we should be able to start working on demolition of the old scale,” Storey added, noting that the old scale has been in service since 1970.

“That’s coming along, and the project is actually going along beautifully,” Storey said, adding that construction is doing a very nice job.

The Solid Waste Project bid was awarded to Magnum Construction, of Clarkston, for $1,719,523.64 in December last year.

The second Public Works update Storey told the commissioners regarded the construction on Almota Road. Storey said that the project had moved into “Phase 3” as of Tuesday. “We paved most of mainline last Thursday and Friday,” Storey told the commissioners, noting they could not complete it due to some pavement tearing issues they had to fix.

Storey said that the mainline was expected to be finished sometime on Tuesday and start the rest either Tuesday or Wednesday. “At best, we will have such things as guard rail and paint,” Storey said, noting also, hopefully, some project cleanup would have started too.

“It’s actually turning out really well,” Storey said, noting that they’ve been working on it for many years.

The Almota road project covers the stretch from milepost 5.82 to milepost 7.96 and aims to enhance safety and traffic flow along the critical roadway.

The project is funded by the Regional Transportation Authority (RATA) for a total of $3,450,000.

Storey’s third update for the commissioners was introducing a new hire for Building Permit Tech, David Warner, who was present at the meeting.