Widening Project On 16Th Under Way

Sat., Feb. 26, 2000

By Trinity Hartman trinityh@spokesman.com

Traffic cones sprouted this week along East 16th Avenue near McDonald Elementary School.

The orange cones are the first visible sign that a wider roadway is in the works. A center turn lane, new sidewalks and bike lanes will be added along 16th Avenue between Highway 27 and Sullivan Road.

The $3.5 million project will be funded through state, federal and county dollars.

Survey crews now working in the area should be done by the first part of next week.

Currently, children who use 16th Avenue to walk or bike to McDonald Elementary or Evergreen Junior High School now have to use the gravel shoulders.

McDonald Elementary principal Jan Lenhart said most of the 300 students walk to school, but most take other routes to avoid 16th.

“The safety feature of sidewalks would be very nice for the children,” Lenhart said.

Once surveying is completed, the county will begin drafting a right-of-way proposal. Homeowners living along 16th will begin hearing from county right-of-way agents in late fall about buying property fronting on 16th Avenue.

The county already has approximately 60 feet of the 64 feet needed for road widening project, said Jim Haines, the county’s program development engineer.

“It’s not going to really tear up yards,” he said. “It should go pretty smoothly.”

The construction will likely start in 2001 and won’t be finished until 2002.

Anywhere from 4,200 to 4,400 cars now travel along 16th Avenue between Highway 27 and Sullivan Road each day. The county estimates that number will increase to 20,000 cars a day by 2020.

“That number certainly warrants widening and a third lane,” Haines said.

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