Washington State Department of Transportation survey crew member John Wheeler calls out measurements to John DeYoung (foreground left) and Mitch Colbert (foreground right) at the intersection of First and C streets in Cheney on Monday.
Washington State Department of Transportation officials gave the public a look at the upcoming State Route 904 asphalt paving project at an open house last Thursday - but it was a local source that had more of the information residents sought.
As of press time, WSDOT had yet to hold a pre-construction meeting with the project contractor, Shamrock Paving of Spokane. Fortunately, Shamrock won a $637,709 bid
for street preservation projects in Cheney this summer, the largest portion, $380,781, being paving work on Simpson Parkway, and city officials have been appraised of their schedule.
Public Works Director Todd Ableman said Shamrock will be doing two types of grinding on SR 904: in-lay grinding and curb-to-curb grinding. Curb-to-curb is just like it sounds, removal of the asphalt over the entire width of the highway. Ableman said this type will be done from Betz Road through Cheney to Washington Street.
In-lay grinding removes just the asphalt in the travel lanes, leaving behind a raised lip on either side of the highway. This type of grinding creates some safety issues for motorists and requires a quick turn around for completion.
"They have to come back and pave it right away," Ableman said.
Ableman said the city advised Shamrock regarding the timing of work around the Cheney Rodeo, July 7–9. Work on the project isn't scheduled to begin until at least June 19, with the grinder scheduled to remove the portion of roadway from K Street to Mullinix Road between July 5–6, starting at Mullinix and working towards Cheney.
Shamrock's contract with the state requires it to cease any work over Rodeo weekend. Ableman said if all goes well they would likely grind down near Cocolalla and cease, while the grinder working on the in-lay portion would move over to Cheney's Simpson Parkway project that weekend.
The annual Cheney Rodeo parade begins around K and J streets, running through downtown before turning up Cocolalla.
According to WSDOT, motorists in Cheney will experience reduced lanes and one-way piloted traffic control over the course of the project, but there are no plans to detour vehicles onto side streets. The $2 million project is scheduled to last eight weeks, and according to WSDOT project manager Jacob Lehman, should result in an estimated 8,100 tons of hot mix asphalt deposited to a depth of 0.15 of a foot.
It's the first time in a while that SR 904 has received such extensive work.
"According to our research shown in the pavement design, the section from mile post 9.10 to 10.80 was last paved in 2001 and the section from mile post 10.80 to 12.74 was last paved in 1999," Lehman said in an email.
John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.
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