ADA ramps coming to Ritzville

RITZVILLE – The city will be putting in 20 handicap-accessible ramps along Main Street this summer.

Mayor Gary Cook said the Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant ramps, which cost about $5,000 each, are being paid for by Transportation Improvement Board funds.

“As a rule, our portion of it is 5-10%,” Cook said. “We maintain a six-year, TIB [Transportation Improvement Board] plan, and each year we take the No. 1 priority and apply to the state for funding. We’ll do the ramps this summer, and next year pave the road with slurry and crack seal.”

Councilman Dennis Chamberlain said millions of dollars recently went into First Street, with fellow council member Scott Yeager working on a list ranking the streets, and the state choosing which ones to work on.

“It was unanimous with council members we needed to protect the streets, and our crew did it internally to make it affordable,” Chamberlain said. “They’ve been able to do more than we expected. There are still areas we haven’t got to, but it’s on the to-do list.”

“We just decided with the budget, it was more efficient for us to buy the material and rent the machine from an asphalt company in Spokane,” Cook said. “We decided it was something our crew could handle, and they did it faster and used less material than we ordered, so we have some extra material stored and can reduce our annual impact by not having to buy so much. It worked out really well.”