Story Photos
 Graphic by Daily News These are three possible detours Cowlitz County has identified around a slide area along State Route 4. |
Funding for SR 4 detours questionable
Friday, June 23, 2006 7:23 AM PDT
By Michael Andersen
Printable version
E-mail this articleFinding state funds to help build a detour around a slide-prone stretch of State Route 4 wouldn't be easy, state Sen. Mark Doumit said at a public meeting Thursday night in Longview. But it might be worth a try.
"It'd be a fight to have priorities shifted," said Doumit, D-Cathlamet, whose own route to Olympia was cut off in February by a major rockslide about five miles west of Longview. "But that'd be something we'd be willing to do if a suitable alternative is found."
Cowlitz County's first detailed crack at those alternatives was on display at Thursday's meeting at Robert Gray Elementary School, attended by more than 100 locals and government employees. The cheapest under consideration, a 12.5-mile detour that would run from the end of Weist Road to connect with Germany Creek Road, would cost about $2.2 million, County Engineer Kent Cash said.
A $1.1 million plan for a single-lane road along the same route was no longer among the county's main options. County Commission Chair Jeff Rasmussen said Thursday that he was looking for "apples to apples" comparisons among the routes.
The remaining plans, which range as high as $9.7 million, would be two-lane roads. At Thursday's meeting, Cash said the county has not yet priced a route between Sherman and Bunker Hill roads and invited ideas from the public for other possible routes.
County officials say state help would be crucial in funding any of the available options. Both the county and the state would have to put off other projects to fund this one.
Though the county could save money along some routes by leaving sections unpaved, those roads would have to be closed except in case of a slide. And even then, the road might not be fit for large vehicles.
"If it's not going to be used by trucks and school buses, what use is it?" asked Ron Bailey, a Bunker Hill resident.
No one was sure.
Then, too, the county would be liable if a crash occurs along a designated detour road. That risk would push the county toward building higher-quality, higher-cost roads, Rasmussen said.
Ultimately, several citizens said Thursday, it may not be worth building an expensive detour for an event that occurs only once in a blue moon.
After February's slide completely blocked the highway for a week, the state spent nearly $1.3 million shoring up a section of rock over the highway. The work dragged on for five more weeks, closing one lane of the highway throughout.
"We're hopeful that we've got a 10-year fix out there," state Department of Transportation administrator Don Wagner said Thursday. But when it comes to fractured cliff faces, Wagner added, one never knows.
Getting a detour in place, Rasmussen said, would take at least five years --- more, if the county couldn't convince landowners to cooperate with road-widening plans or if the state didn't promptly pave the way with grants.
So if state matching funds were in the offing, might Wahkiakum County be willing to talk about chipping in for a detour?
Too soon to say, said Cowlitz County Commissioner Kathleen Johnson.
"We have to know what we're talking about first," she said.
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