First Avenue Project currently ahead of schedule

The First Avenue Project is ahead of schedule, according to an update provided by councilmember Scott Yaeger at the most recent Ritzville City Council meeting on May 7.

The project, which spans from Jackson Street to Clark Street on First Avenue, has been a notable presence in the city limits for the past month or so. But according to Yaeger, who is also an engineer for Adams County, the project could be completed earlier than expected.

The construction crew from Wm. Winkler Company is finishing up the sidewalk portion of the project and will then begin the road phase. The road portion of the project will include grinding the existing grade and then adding cement to it, which is called Cement-Treated Base (CTB).

The CTB will be laid down to the grade, compacted and then fractured a couple of days later so the CTB only gets to 200-300 pounds per square inch, rather than 3,000 or 4,000 PSI. Once the CTB has been left untouched for about seven days, the crew will be able to pave over it.

Wm. Winkler Company's original schedule had them on pace to be completed with the project by mid-June, but Yaeger noted with the way that things are progressing, it seems "favorable" that the project will be finished sooner than that, possibly in the next two or three weeks. With that area of road having to be open during Memorial Day weekend, Yaeger said he thinks the crew is trying to get the paving done before that weekend.

Yaeger told fellow councilmembers last Tuesday that he's been getting asked questions about the project at least once or twice a week. He said he hasn't received any real complaints about the project so far.

Councilmember Mike Schrag asked Yaeger about the placement of detour signs and whether that could be remedied somehow. Schrag said he's noticed that semi-trucks seem to be having a hard time of navigating the temporary stop signs that have been set up for the detour on Second Avenue. Essentially, Schrag was asking if they could make Jefferson Street and Jackson Street one-way roads to make it easier for semi-trucks to navigate the turns.

Yaeger mentioned that there were a couple of detour routes that were considered for the project, but said that they each had potential problems. "You're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't," he said.

Yaeger said he expected that the semi-truck drivers that come through Ritzville often would find an alternate route, and said he thinks most of them have.

"Unfortunately, there's some [semi-truck drivers] that are newcomers and some that just don't care," Yaeger said.