First, The Good News: Underpass Work Starts Although The End Result Will Be Welcomed, Construction Phase Is Sure To Bring Headaches

Spirits were high when local officials announced the formal start-up of the Argonne Road underpass project earlier this week.

The West Valley High School band trumpeted patriotic tunes. Light glinted off gold-painted shovels to be used for the official ground-breaking. There was cake and light-hearted conversation.

“We’ve been promising you an underpass for a number of years,” County Commissioner Steve Hasson said as he cradled his baby son at the Monday ceremony. “Fortunately and finally, it is here.”

The project calls for building an underpass that will allow cars on Argonne to travel unimpeded under the railroad tracks near Trent Avenue.

Nearly 35,000 cars travel that stretch of Argonne every day, and with the Burlington Northern railroad shipping record tons of freight across the tracks, tie-ups are the norm.

Construction crews have been working on the $10 million project for months, realigning the tracks and doing other preliminary work.

They will begin the process of lowering Argonne in the next few weeks.

State and local officials hailed the work as a blessing.

“I’m sure the stress level in the Valley, and in my family, will decrease considerably,” said state Rep. Larry Crouse, whose wife works in Millwood and has to cross the tracks at Argonne frequently. “She brings a book along, and when a train comes, she starts reading.”

But there also was an undercurrent of unease, even as those responsible for the project posed for snapshots in the old Albertson’s grocery store at the Argonne Village shopping center.

While the kick-off was grand and the ending likely to be wonderful, the intervening 18 months are sure to be a hassle.

Traffic detours around the construction are likely to be in place the week of July 15, and delays are expected.

Both commuters and business owners in the area are concerned about the impact that will have on their lives - a point that wasn’t lost on County Engineer Ron Hormann.

“We still have some frustrating times to go through,” Hormann said.

County Public Works Director Dennis Scott agreed.

“In the interim, we’re going to disrupt a lot of people’s lives,” Scott said.

Businesses in the area will remain open throughout the construction project, which is supposed to be completed by October 1996.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo