A Washougal City Council decision about the proposed E Street project will slice about $2 million off the $9.8 million price tag.
The city council voted unanimously Monday night to eliminate a roundabout proposed for the intersection of E Street and Washougal River Road from project plans. Instead, the city will consider reprogramming the traffic lights as a solution for the busy intersection.
“The intent would still be to go to a road-diet, but at the intersection try a dedicated left-turn lane, both east and west, and re-signal the intersection,” said Mayor Sean Guard, who took the oath of office at Monday’s meeting.
The road-diet would reduce the four-lane arterial to two lanes plus a center left-turn lane. Rather than replace the traffic signal at the intersection with a roundabout and yield signs, Guard said the project would reconfigure the signal to allow traffic to flow more freely. The traffic signal now allows only one direction to move at a time. Creating a turn lane and implementing a blinking yellow left-turn signal would allow vehicles to continue to move and reduce congestion in all directions, he said.
The change would also take a significant bite out of the cost of the project, which prior to the revision had a $3.4 million funding shortfall. But before moving forward, the city council wants to hear from the organizations that have offered up nearly $5 million in state and federal grant money for the project to see if the changes jeopardize funding.
The engineers believe the modified version of the project would still qualify, Guard said. But if the funding disappears, it’s back to the drawing board.
The city should have an answer about whether funding will be pulled or remain intact in the next few weeks. The city council plans to discuss the revised project at its Jan. 25 workshop and make a final decision about the project at its Feb. 1 meeting.
Councilman Jon Russell said he will not support the project unless funding is secured.
“We cannot gamble with the taxpayers’ money,” said Russell, who was appointed mayor pro tem Monday. “We can’t just go into a project and say we hope we get grants. … We need to know that if we’re going to move forward that the money is in the bank.”
Marissa Harshman: 360-735-4546 or marissa.harshman@columbian.com.
