Changes planned for streets in Electric City

Those who drive around Electric City regularly may be surprised this summer to find that the Y-shaped intersection near city hall will be losing the Western Avenue branch off that intersection that currently forks into Western and Stevens Avenue.

Electric City is building some sidewalks along Coulee Boulevard, which is also highway 155, as well as along Grand Avenue this summer. Included in these projects is a sidewalk that will wrap around the front of city hall and eliminate the portion of Western Avenue directly in front of city hall, incorporating that space into city hall's parking lot.

The elimination of the Western Avenue branch of the Y will force drivers to use the Stevens Avenue branch of the Y instead, adding some extra turns and yards to their drive.

Electric City has a larger plan to develop the parking lot for the city hall in that short stretch of Western, planting trees and creating an area that City Clerk Russ Powers calls the "city center," where he explains people could congregate for the lighting of a Christmas tree, for example.

An artist's rendering from SPW Landscape Architects shows trees and a bus stop shelter in the envisioned city center.

"I kind of like the idea, really, if they dress it up and make it look nice," said Electric City resident Roger Lucas, who lives on the hill above city hall. Lucas said an extra turn wouldn't bother him.

"The point is to slow down traffic," Powers said about eliminating the Western Avenue branch of the intersection. "This particular plan was done many years ago with SCJ Alliance," the town's city planning firm at the time.

Lucas said he dodges garbage trucks in the area, so reducing traffic sounded good to him.

"The city has no sidewalks," Powers said, "so I think it will improve the safety and the awareness of pedestrians in the city that we don't have right now."

"That is not a good corner," said Electric City resident Kerry Higgins, who also lives on the hill above city hall. "I'm not crazy about how that's set up now, anyways. I have to see how the whole thing lays out. Of course, it's an inconvenience to have one more place to stop, four times a day for me. My bigger concern is how they're paying for it."

The sidewalk project on the highway and near city hall will cost about $304,000, paid for with a grant from Washington state's Transportation Improvement Board and a 5-percent, $16,000 match coming from the city. The sidewalk along Coulee Boulevard will stretch from Taylor Avenue to Western Avenue.

The actual streets of Grand Avenue and Western Avenue will both be completely rebuilt, including sidewalks, in a project that will be paid for with about $665,000 from the TIB and a $33,000 match from the city paid with money from the city Transportation Benefit District, which collects $20 a year on vehicles owned by Electric City residents, one of 65 cities in the state that do so.

The plan to modify the intersection came before Powers' time as clerk, he said, and as the city has been developing a parks and recreation plan that includes plans for parks, trails, and sidewalks, the plan to modify the intersection started to become a reality.

"The way these things work is that the engineers come in with plans to submit to TIB, and you say, 'That looks pretty good; lets try for that,'" Powers said. "And then you come in with the finalized plan. The council has to approve the contract to do the job. If they don't like something, they say, 'We don't like this.' They approved the TIB grant and contract with engineer in 2018."

"It's really nice to work with TIB," Powers continued. "I wish all the grants worked that way. It's basically, 'You got the grant; here's the money; do the job.'"

The sidewalk and streets projects are expected to go out to bid in April, Powers said, with construction estimated to start sometime this summer.