Potential changes in design schemas, as well as staffing turnovers have caused unexpected delays in the state-led East of Bingen Port of Klickitat Access Project, a Washington State Department of Transportation official said, leading to a change in the construction timeline.
According to Tamara Greenwell, communications manager for WSDOT’s Southwest Region, the project team is undergoing its design phase. Recent input from Burlington-Northern Santa Fe Railroad has led to the team exploring further modifications, Greenwell said.
“Because the proposed design modification would change several aspects of the project south of SR 14, we are prioritizing assessing feasibility of the design modifications to move the project forward. Exploratory work like this can take some time,” Greenwell said. “Once a determination is made on the recently proposed design modification, we’re anticipating the design of this project to progress much faster with the current plan of going to advertisement in late 2023 or early 2024, with construction beginning a few months after advertisement.”
The current public design calls for an extension of Elm Street so that it would intersect with SR 14 in Bingen with a traffic circle and a grade-separated railroad crossing.
According to WSDOT, eliminating the current at-grade railroad crossing will increase mobility for vehicles entering and exiting the port, and will create a safer junction by reducing the likelihood of collisions at rail crossings and ensuring access to Bingen Point by emergency responders. The project also serves as an expansion of infrastructure in preparation of further economic development in the region.
Not only has the construction timeline fallen further behind schedule, but meetings have been delayed or canceled recently, which was met with some dismay from Bingen Mayor Catherine Kiewit, who during staff and elected official reports from the April 5 Bingen City Council meeting, said that she was concerned the delays would begin to price the partners out of the project. She related a conversation she had with WSDOT’s project lead, who reassured Kiewit that the project was still moving forward. She shared that the state provided an additional $2 million through the budget this year.
The total cost for the project is around $28 million, Kiewit said.
As updates on the progress of this project continue, WSDOT will be sharing updates with the community, with local businesses and with stakeholder groups. “Once we have a definitive construction timeline, we’ll share the information broadly so that folks know what to expect and can plan ahead to avoid delays,” Greenwell said.
Commented