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High bids make WSDOT back off Colfax bridge repairs

A semi-truck heads east across the bridge spanning the South Fork of the Palouse River along SR 26 just outside Colfax. Pullman and Washington State University are putting pressure on the state to make State Route 26 safer ahead of schedule. (Dan Pelle / The Spokesman-Review)
By Taylor Nadauld Moscow-Pullman Daily News

The Washington state Department of Transportation has put its plans to rebuild two northern Colfax bridges on the back burner after a bid for the repairs went well above the department’s estimation.

Project manager Joe Ousband told attendees of a WSDOT open house Thursday that a bid to repair the state Highway 26 and U.S. Highway 195 bridges over the North Fork of the Palouse River in Colfax was $800,000 more than the department had expected.

Repair work would have included removal and replacement of existing concrete railing and sidewalk and repaving the state Highway 26 bridge deck, as well as replacing the superstructure and adding new approach slabs to the U.S. 195 bridge.

Original plans for the bridge repair also proposed construction of a roundabout near the bridges on U.S. 195.

Project manager Larry Rasmussen said the department now has two options for the bridges: repackage the construction plans and put them back out for bid or increase funding for the price that has been offered.

The department also updated guests on two passing lane segments that will be constructed on U.S. Highway 195 between Colfax and Spangle, Wash., beginning this summer.

The project, which will eventually add six total passing lanes to U.S. 195, was included in the Connecting Washington funding package to provide additional passing opportunities and reduce the potential for head-on collisions as part of the state’s goal to have zero traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2030.

Four of the six total passing lanes would be constructed during the second phase of the project scheduled in 2018. The length of those lanes all depend on the amount of money the department has to spend, Rasmussen said.

But many attendees appeared somewhat unsatisfied by the details they heard at the open house. One man questioned whether adding additional passing lanes would encourage speeding. Some, including Washington State Patrol Sgt. Courtney Shawley, questioned how the locations of the lanes were chosen and suggested what they believed would be more useful locations.

The locations have already been set by WSDOT.

WSDOT employees said they hoped the additional lanes would alleviate stress and safety concerns by providing drivers more space.

“We’re not saying these are the most ideal locations,” Rasmussen said, adding that the locations would provide systematic passing opportunities for drivers.When others suggested existing lanes be extended, Rasmussen said that would not have counted toward what state legislators have appropriated for the department to build six new lanes, and that the state could not afford additional extensions.