Fixes coming for Granite Falls street

Published 12:01 am Wednesday, January 5, 2011

GRANITE FALLS — Two blocks of S. Granite Avenue are expected to be rebuilt this year.

The city applied for a small city arterial program grant from the state’s Transportation Improvement Board in August.

A $654,030 grant was awarded in November to pay for street improvements to about 900 feet of roadway between Union and Wallace streets.

The project involves the whole road, curbs, gutters and sidewalks, said Brent Kirk, the city’s public works director.

“We’re expected to start design this spring and hopefully start construction in late summer,” Kirk said.

Officials with the Transportation Improvement Board, an agency that manages grant funding for street construction and maintenance projects throughout the state, visited S. Granite Avenue before deciding to award the grant, said Clint Ritter, a Transportation Improvement Board project engineer. The two-block section was rated in categories of safety, pavement condition, local support and sustainability.

“We had a fairly slim number of projects, and Granite Falls was the number-one rated project in the Puget Sound region,” Ritter said.

The region includes agencies applying for grant money in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties, Ritter added.

The grant will fund 90 percent of the project’s cost with the city’s portion totalling an additional $72,670. The project will be put out to bid to select a contractor to complete the design and rebuild the road.

Amy Daybert: 425-339-3491; adaybert@heraldnet.com.