Bicyclist Bonnie Taylor, center, of Washougal emerges from the new Washougal tunnel with, from left, Shady, Toby-Ray and Romeo on a bike ride Monday. The tunnel goes under state Highway 14 to the Columbia River waterfront.
Walkers, bicyclists and joggers can now more easily and safely travel from downtown Washougal to the waterfront with the opening of the pedestrian tunnel beneath state Highway 14.
The project wrapped up late last month after a year of construction. The 9.5-foot-tall and 16-foot-wide tunnel stretches for 115 feet below the highway just east of the stoplight at Washougal River Road.
The project includes the concrete tunnel with interior in-ground lighting, new street lighting, video surveillance at each end of the tunnel and a stairway and asphalt pathway connecting the tunnel to the existing trail on top of the dike. The trail leads to Captain William Clark Park and Steamboat Landing Park.
The walls of the tunnel are decorated with basalt stones featuring petroglyph designs of Columbia Gorge tribes. Historian and artist Rex Ziak led a team of nine Washougal High School students who researched the designs. A dedication stone on the south side of the tunnel lists the names of the students and stakeholders involved with the interior stonework.
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The project also included new curbing, sidewalk, landscaping and burying of overhead utility lines, all of which are consistent with the earlier-completed downtown improvement project.
The city obtained more than $3 million in funding for the project, including $594,000 in federal stimulus money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, a $1.3 million federal bike and pedestrian safety grant and a $1.3 federal appropriation. After all bills are paid, the project is expected to come in under budget at about $2.9 million, said Trevor Evers, Washougal public works director.
Construction began July 1, 2009, and the project was slated to be finished by March. However, the completion date was set back a few months in order to install basalt signs on the exterior of the north and south sides of the tunnel, Evers said.
The Washington State Department of Transportation provided the oversight for the project because federal dollars were used. WSDOT also assisted the city during the design phase of the project to ensure the tunnel fit into the state’s vision for the highway, said Ken Hash, local programs engineer for WSDOT. For example, the tunnel needed to be large enough to accommodate a widening project, he said.
“You don’t want to build something that’s a throwaway,” Hash said. “We helped guide them to build something that would last for the future and meet the requirements for SR 14.”
The city has planned a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony for 11 a.m. Aug. 14 at the site.
Highway 14 widening
WSDOT also has a project planned for the Washougal area.
Later this year, the agency will begin construction on its Camas-Washougal widening and interchange project to improve the stretch of highway between the Northwest Sixth Avenue interchange in Camas and Sixth Street in Washougal.
The $57 million project will widen about two miles of Highway 14 from two lanes to four lanes from the end of the West Camas Slough Bridge to Union Street; construct a new bridge on the east end of Lady Island paralleling the existing bridge; build a split-diamond interchange with onramps and offramps at Union and Second streets; and install a median barrier on Highway 14 for the length of the project.
The safety improvement project will give drivers more room to navigate, increase the capacity of the highway and reduce travel time, WSDOT spokeswoman Abbi Russell said.
“The area’s seen a lot of growth, and we want to try and keep up with that,” she said.
WSDOT is currently working to obtain right of way for the project. Construction should begin before the end of the year, with completion scheduled for 2012, Russell said.
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