Sidewalk project OK’d

Grand Coulee took its first step Tuesday toward getting a Spokane Way sidewalk project started.

Council members Tuesday night voted to have Mayor Chris Christopherson initial an agreement with Gray & Osborne to do the design work for the project.

The sidewalk will begin at SR-174 and come down the hill on Center School side, and provide a walking platform all the way to the sidewalk in front of the library.

Gray & Osborne asked $26,000 to do the design phase for the $240,000 project.

The sidewalk project is being financed through a grant from the state’s Transportation Improvement Board.

The specific date for the work to be done was not noted, but city officials said it would take place in 2013.

The sidewalk was argued as necessary because of the large number of people, many of them students, who walk down the hill to the school. Sometimes children walk close to the roadway making it a potentially dangerous area.

The Gray & Osborne fee for design includes survey, mapping, and environmental and regulatory permits.