Street changes being sought for Coulee Dam

The town of Coulee Dam has submitted grant requests to the State Transportation Improvement Board for three major projects.

The first is for improvements around the new K-12 school complex. A second is for the reconditioning of Sixth Street, and the third for improvements to Lincoln Avenue.

In the school portion of the grant request, the town points out that there will be an increase in general traffic, an increase in heavy vehicles such as school buses and heavy delivery vehicles and an increase in pedestrian traffic.

The town’s submission includes comments on intersections at Pine Street and River Drive, Pine Street and Civic Way and both intersections at Central Drive and Crest Drive.

The application points out the poor sight alignment at some intersections and the lack of wheelchair accessible ramps on some sidewalks.

The proposed project primarily improves school route safety for students, residents, pedestrians and drivers traveling in the school campus area. Improvements to realign intersections in the vicinity of the school would increase line of sight for drivers and create a traffic calming environment.

Completing the sidewalk gap along Civic Street to the tennis courts and to River Drive would move students and pedestrians off the road, creating a safety barrier, the application stated.

The Lincoln Avenue project would grind and overlay Lincoln from Ferry Avenue to SR-155. The intersection of Okanogan Ave., and Lincoln Ave., would be regraded to drain water from the west side of the street down Okanogan Ave., and also add wheelchair ramps with a crosswalk. The sidewalk and entrance to the gas station would be realigned with a standard driveway entrance. The crosswalk at the gas station would be moved to the end of the road with sidewalk and wheelchair ramps installed to accommodate the change.

The Sixth Street project calls for new sidewalks, wheelchair ramps, and painted crosswalks.

The grant requests were submitted just before the Aug. 22 deadline.