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With a $1.3 million grant from the Washington State Department of Transportation in hand, the Millwood City Council was looking forward to a seamless upgrade of Argonne Road next summer, a project scheduled to include new concrete intersections, pavement resurfacing and pedestrian improvements.
On Tuesday, the council learned there might be a few changes in the road map.
Matt Gillis of Welch/Comer Engineers – the design team on the project – provided Millwood’s governing board with an update on the proposal at its monthly meeting, complete with a current budget that takes into account cost increases for asphalt, concrete and fuel. The new total, Gillis said, would be around $1.9 million, approximately $600,000 short of the money provided to the city from WSDOT through the Spokane Regional Transportation Council.
“I don’t think anyone is surprised that construction costs are going up,” Gillis said.
The city is still waiting to hear back about several grants, including a $120,000 bequest from the Transportation Improvement Board that would go toward sidewalk improvements along Argonne. Gillis said the city had “a very good chance” of receiving the T.I.B. funds.
Still, news of the cost shift for the bulk of the work came as a disappointing bulletin for Millwood Mayor Dan Mork and other city leaders who began considering scaled-back renditions of the work.
“I don’t really want to use tax money to do this,” Mork said. “This is really more of a regional or a state project instead of a Millwood project.”
Gillis presented four alternatives for the renovation focusing on around a half-mile stretch of Argonne, or just over 2,300 feet. Traffic on the thoroughfare has increased significantly in recent years as motorists utilize the road as a north/south alternative to Division.
The original plan included asphalt resurfacing known as “mill and inlay” from Buckeye to Frederick and full-depth asphalt replacement from Frederick to South Riverway as well as three new concrete intersections at Grace, Euclid/Empire and Liberty. Cost for that design is estimated at $1.933 million, according to Gillis.
Another alternative would be to trade out the complete asphalt replacement from Frederick to South Riverway with a mill and inlay, a shift that would result in a savings of over $600,000, but also reduce the quality of the roadway. Gillis described how the original upgrade would mean that portion of the street lasting for up to 20 years as opposed to between three to seven years with the mill and inlay approach.
“We’re still improving the surface, just not to the level we discussed before,” he said.
A third option would be to replace the concrete intersections with asphalt and retain the mill and inlay from Buckeye to South Riverway, cutting the cost to $1.042 million. A fourth approach would include the same mill and inlay and keep the two concrete intersections at Grace and Euclid/Empire while installing asphalt at the Liberty intersection at an overall cost of $1.248 million.
In responding to the presentation by Gillis, Council Member Glenn Bailey talked about the importance of “addressing the most needful reconstruction first” while Council Member Kevin Freeman brought up the idea of imposing weight restrictions on Argonne.
Mork said if the city did decide to spend money from its budget on the project, the funds would go toward pedestrian improvements. The council also approved Millwood’s six-year street plan on Tuesday with the Argonne upgrade mentioned as the city’s only anticipated project.
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By
Craig Howard
