Sidewalk project looks for different locale

Grand Coulee officials are trying to get a sidewalk project on Spokane Avenue changed to the same kind of improvement on Federal Avenue.

A sidewalk on Spokane Way lost its main focus when city officials realized that Center School would no longer be in use after the 2013-2014 school year since students would move to a new building in Coulee Dam. The project’s main intent had been to provide sidewalk service to Center school.

Now the city is checking with the State Transportation Improvement Board, the source of the funds, to see if the arterial along Federal Avenue could be a substitute project.

The TIB had agreed to provide some $215,000 to the city for the Spokane Avenue project.

Sidewalks on Federal Avenue, which service the Senior Center and link to Main Street businesses, are in need of repair. On one side, the sidewalks are crumbling, and on the other side a tree has caused sidewalks to heave. Both sides are a safety hazard for older people using them, city officials had stated.

Mayor Chris Christopherson and the city council last Tuesday decided to move ahead with the effort and will ask the city’s engineering firm, Gray & Osborne to work with the TIB on the alternate plan.

The mayor mentioned that new sidewalks on Main Street could also be an alternative project, but stated that the Main Street project would cost more than TIB had OK’d for the original project.