Pacific officials look forward to a smoother drive through the city in the coming year.
The most substantial effort will be the completion of Pacific’s mile-long portion of Valentine Avenue, which runs parallel to State Route 167 all the way to the city of Sumner. Jim Morgan, City engineer, said the project will be done in June or July because that is an ideal time to finish paving and give commuters, “the most smooth ride possible.”
Pacific has about $6.45 million in this year’s budget to complete the project. Morgan said the City’s share is $7.7 million, but some of that money was allocated in Pacific’s 2015 budget.
Morgan said Sumner’s half-mile portion of the Valentine Avenue work is nearing completion. He estimated that Pacific’s project on the north end of the road is 65 percent complete, while the south side is 35 percent finished.
Morgan said workers are completing work on curbs, gutters and driveways before they start in on the bulk of the paving. The project, he said, includes road widening, storm drainage improvement, water main replacement and more.
In December, the Stewart and Thornton Road Improvement Project was completed at a cost of $3.3 million. That project added one new lane of traffic in each direction between State Route 167 and Valentine Avenue; a turn lane between Thornton and Valentine; a new sidewalk along the south side of the road; a 10-foot separated bike-pedestrian path on the north side of the road; new street lighting on both sides of the road; replacement of the water main; stormwater drainage improvements; and new landscaping.
“The two major road projects – Stewart Road and Valentine – with those being in our commercial and light industrial area, I believe it’s a great opportunity for us to grow within the economic development part,” said Mayor Leanne Guier. “By being able to do that, it increases our tax base, which increases the services that we’re going to be able to provide to our citizens.
“I’m excited to see what kinds of businesses we can attract to our community.”
The City’s road woes won’t be resolved soon, Guier said, but last summer the City commissioned Infrastructure Management Services (IMS) to complete a traffic study to help the City Council prioritize its transportation projects. Pacific’s budget for this year has appropriated $661,069 to its street fund, but Guier said the IMS indicated that the City will need $300,000 per year to maintain its arterial. The street also has a separate improvement fund, which has a budget of $666,084.
“With this report, we’re going to be able to know how much the road has deteriorated and how much it will cost (repair or replace),” Guier said. “We can start prioritizing which roads need to be worked on and how we’re going to fund them.”
