Council approves street project grant

RITZVILLE – Council members approved a request for additional funds from the Transportation Improvement Board after City Engineer Scott Yeager presented changes needing to be made to the City Preservation Project, currently funded by the state agency.

Yeager said funding was received last year to remove and rebuild 22 ADA ramps between Palouse and Jackson Streets. Yeager said the ramps needed replaced due to the city putting in chip and slurry seal. The original request did not include costs for mobilization and traffic control, Yeager said, so the city has the choice of asking for additional funds or reducing the scope of the project down from five blocks to three blocks. Yeager said an additional option of re-applying for funds would include engineering costs of re-doing specifications, as well as the risk of ongoing increases in costs of ADA ramps.

Yeager said the request for an additional $87,000 would look better if the city could provide $20,000.

“It seems like doing as much as we can, especially with the ADA ramps, is not only great for the city – being able to do it through this avenue is an amazing opportunity – it is a lot of money, but an investment in our city and our downtown,” said Council Member Michelle Plumb.

City Clerk-Treasurer Julie Flyckt assured council members the city could cover the extra $20,000.

“If we don’t do those ADA ramps with this project, I can guarantee you they’re never going to get done,” said Plumb. “Twenty thousand versus $99,000 to do them on our own is a great deal.”

Council next passed a motion to request that if the funds could not be increased, to reduce the scope of the project to include only Palouse to Adams streets, in order to stay within the funding already awarded.

Council also voted in favor of applying for the Transportation Board 2020 SCAP grant. The SCAP, or Small City Arterial Program/Small City Preservation Program grants will be announced in November. Yeager said the project, the first priority on the city’s six-year street improvement plan, involves grinding existing pavement down three inches below the existing pavement and doing an asphalt inlay of those three inches plus an additional one inch over the top.

“Right now the pavement thickness varies from two inches to three inches, and that’s not enough in front of the Ritzville Warehouse,” Yeager said.

The city already received funding to do the project on First Street from Palouse to Cascade streets. Yeager said the total project cost is $302,200, with the city providing $15,000. Yeager said the Ritzville Warehouse was willing to commit to providing another $15,000 towards the project.

“That’s why I’m so excited to move forward with this,” Yeager said. “It gives us a lot better opportunity to get this project done.”