Construction woes at E. Pioneer likely to carry over into 2018

Rainy season could put project on hold until April 2018

Cars traveling through Montesano for the past few weeks have had to be on the lookout for “Road Closed” signs along East Pioneer Avenue as crews have been working to improve infrastructure beneath the road as well as the road itself.

Montesano Chief Finanical Officer Doug Streeter said the project will be completed in two phases, each with multiple steps. Phase one consists of road improvements on East Pioneer from Main Street east to Church Street, near the Montesano fire station. Phase two will go from East Pioneer Avenue from Church Street to Vessey Field.

The first step of phase one was a five week project to replace the water main running down the north side of East Pioneer and the tying of the new main into businesses and residences. That step began mid-July and was completed two weeks ago.

The road construction itself comes at the completion of the water project.

“What Rognlin’s is doing now is putting in the new storm drains and tying those into the existing system,” Streeter said. “Then they will move to sidewalk work and will then button everything up and let winter go by and come back in late April or early May and do the paving.”

The city received three bids for the road project. Rognlin’s Inc. of Aberdeen was the low bidder on the water main replacement job and the low bidder on the street construction. Montesano public works and community development director Mike Olden said the estimate for the project’s total cost is $1,176,515. The city received federal funds for the project in the amount of $925,686 as well as $144,472 in state funds. The city has allocated $112,000 for storm drain related work.

“So far, we are projecting the project to be about $25,000 under budget with some contingency for change orders and suspending the project over the winter,” Olden said in an email. “But we have a ways to go.”

“We’re beginning to run out of days to get paving in,” Streeter said. “The Department of Transportation has some requirements on when you can and cannot pave in the state. That deadline is mid-October.”

The road construction on East Pioneer will require the current concrete to be torn out before any additional work can be done. This process can be hampered by the rainy season.

Streeter said the worst thing that could happen for the improvements would be for all the preparation work to be completed and the road work commenced just in time to be hit with the rainy season.

“It would just be a muddy mess down there,” he said. “If we got to early October and all the work was done and the weather forecast was good, they might risk it, but my gut tells me that’s probably not going to happen.”

Phase two of the project, road improvements to East Pioneer Avenue from Church Street to Vessey Field, will commence upon completion of phase one.