Federal funds will allow the City of Hoquiam to start the process of fixing a stretch of Broadway Avenue where an unstable bank has caused slide problems for years, according to Hoquiam City Administrator Brian Shay.
“This one has been on our list a long time,” he said during Monday’s City Council meeting.
The stretch in question is “just down from 16th, where it’s closest to the river,” said Shay. The road runs along the east side of the Hoquiam River. The nearest home is 315 Broadway Ave., and the construction will focus on a short stretch of road just to the south of it.
Initial planning funds to the tune of just over $150,000 will come from the Federal Highway Administration’s Transportation Improvement Program. These funds are available for federally classified roads, “like truck routes,” said Shay, and are available to municipalities that have approved six-year transportation plans, like the City of Hoquiam. The grant requires a 13.5 percent match from the city, about $23,600, which would come out of the general fund or the street fund, he added.
This preliminary engineering phase would need to take place between Feb. 1, 2018 and Jan. 31, 2019. If the funds are not used, or not used properly, the Federal Highway Administration can pull the funding.
The city will receive another $56,000 in federal grant money for the right of way phase of the project, with a local match of just under $9,000. This portion would have to be completed between Nov. 1, 2019, and Jan. 31, 2021. The final, or construction, phase of the project would be completed in 2023. That price tag is much higher, with federal money totaling just under $1.3 million with a city match of $202,500. Shay said there are other grant opportunities that could help offset the city’s matching funds.
The total cost of the “permanent fix” would be $1.74 million, said Shay; all but the city’s required matching 13.5 percent would be funded by federal grants.
Hoquiam Mayor Jasmine Dickhoff recalled one of the first items Councilman Dave Wilson mentioned when he joined the council was this stretch of road. Wilson asked if a sidewalk would be part of the improvements, to which Shay said no, but “we hope to widen the road so pedestrians can walk it more safely.”
The project “would reverse the shape of the slant in the road,” and stabilize the problematic bank further by covering it with a shard pile, said Shay.
