ML's Brooks Road to receive overlay this summer

The city of Medical Lake is getting ready to roll out some road improvement projects for this year and in 2015.

One project that is on the horizon is the asphalt overlay from Brooks Road to Lefevre Street. The city approved a consultant agreement for Brooks Road with E and H Engineering Inc. at the May 20 City Council meeting.

City Administrator Doug Ross said the overlay would happen in August as the city usually waits until school is out to complete projects on busy roads. He added the overlay project would not take long.

“It takes about four days or less,” Ross said. “Asphalt overlays are pretty quick. It’s much quicker than reconstruction.”

According to Ross, the overlay project was paid for by the state Transportation Improvement Board (TIB) grant.

During the meeting, councilman Art Kulibert asked if Brooks Road would receive surface repairs in addition to the overlay. Ross said no, but if it is something the city can do, they will.

“When TIB came out, they seemed to think that ponding water on the surface was creating the issues, not the degradation of the road base,” Ross said.

Ross said the grant was only for a two-inch asphalt overlay, but the city will continue to search for money to reconstruct Brooks Road.

In addition to the overlay, the city — as part of their updated six-year transportation improvement plan — looks to complete the following projects in 2015.

● Chip sealing for portions of Broad Street, Ladd Street, Sherman Avenue and Spence Street.

● Paving the shoulder between the edge of the travel lane and the sidewalk adjacent to State Route 902.

● Reconstructing two blocks of Howard Street, between Brooks Road and Fourth Avenue.

● Asphalt overlay of the existing parking lot adjacent and west of City Hall.

● General asphalt repair throughout the different city streets.

Other projects the city looks to work on down the road include overlaying Spence Street, reconstructing Campbell Street and constructing sidewalks on various streets.

According to Ross, projects on the plan are selected based on what streets need repairs and what projects have a chance of receiving funding.

“Streets that need repairs but with higher traffic are more likely to get grant funding than a designated local street,” Ross said.

Ross said the cities would submit their grants for the projects before August. He explained that grants applications will come with matching funds — a city is required to pay 5 percent in order to match the state’s 95 percent.

For projects that do not receive grant funding — such as the Highway 2 shoulder project — the city would use any TIB funds that are left over.

“If some projects are under budget and there’s money left over, the state will allocate money to projects that require no engineering and little time to complete,” Ross said.

Al Stover can be reached at al@cheneyfreepress.com.