Paving project will reroute traffic

The Lower Crest Drive project in Coulee Dam will begin Monday, public works director Barry Peacock reported.

The quarter-mile road project will go from River Drive to the city limits at the bottom of the hill.

Granite Construction, from Wenatchee and Omak, won the bid to do the project and it could take about two weeks or more to complete.

The town received a federal grant of $302,750, for the project, and the State Transportation Improvement Board is paying the town’s matching share of $47,250, Peacock stated earlier in a council meeting.

Motorists who normally take the Lower Crest Drive cutoff to go to Lone Pine or Elmer City will have to go to Elmer City on SR-155, and in the case of Lone Pine residents, backtrack on the Lower River Road.

The project includes new guardrails, and a complete overhaul of the roadway on the hillside.

The plans and bidding process were controlled by the state.