Busy Portion Of East Wenatchee Road To Be Repaved
There are more road upgrade projects in the works in East Wenatchee.
Work will start soon to repave a portion of Rock Island Road from Grant Road south to McGee Street SE.
East Wenatchee Public Works Manager Garren Melton says the project is coming in under budget after competitive bidding.
"The engineer's estimate was $1,057,000," said Melton. "Our total estimate came in at $1,027,000. So, (it's) about three-and-a-half percent under the engineer's estimate."
The East Wenatchee City Council approved a contract this week to be awarded to Pipkin Construction, which submitted the lowest bid for the project at $1,020,750.75.
Melton told councilors he'll meet with Pipkin representatives to iron out scheduling for the project.
"We've got a pre-construction meeting next week, so we're going to find out when they plan on starting, but I expect it to be pretty quickly," Melton said.
It’s expected the repaving project will begin later this month and be completed in about eight weeks.
It’ll include upgrades to five corner curbs to accommodate wheelchairs to be ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant.
Also, the East Wenatchee Water District is partnering with the city to replace an aging steel water main and upgrade service connections during construction.
The project will mostly be financed by a grant from the Washington Transportation Improvement Board (TIB).
About two-thirds of the cost, $636,733.75, will be channeled through the Water District.
The city’s TIB Grant will cover $325,254 of the city's portion of construction. In addition, the Water District is contributing $49,700 towards the city's schedule to split the savings from the roadway being repaved.
The savings will be realized through the efficiency of combining the projects. By doing so, the Water District will not have to patch the pavement disturbed during their mainline replacement. The district's work will take place before the repaving takes place, according to Melton.