Thursday, Oct. 09, 2008

Finley intertie project wraps up final phase

By Franny White, Herald staff writer

A ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday for the final stretch of the Finley intertie made official what county officials have wanted for 40 years: a direct route between Finley and Interstate 82.

The 11-mile, $21 million route bypasses downtown Kennewick and Highway 395 to give truckers and other motorists a faster route between I-82 and the rural industrial area of Finley.

Ray Brookins, who drives about 20 miles between his Badger Canyon home and his job as general manager at Columbia Colstor in Finley, enjoys the road's ease.

"You don't have to deal with the city and the stoplights and all the intersections," he said. The intertie shaves up to 15 minutes from his morning commute, Brookins said.

Benton County Engineer Ross Dunfee said the new road brings "an extremely important link between Finley and markets and agricultural producers on the Horse Heavens." It also improves traffic safety for both commercial truckers and the families and schools those truckers had to drive by before the intertie was built, he said.

Dunfee noted the bypass road has been included in county plans since 1966.

Wednesday's ceremony marked completion of the project's third and final phase. Days before, workers completed work on the intertie's north end, which reconstructed 2.5 miles of Finley, Reik and Piert roads. Phase 3 also added new curbing, drainage and pedestrian walkways and a concrete bridge over railroad tracks.

The intertie's second phase was finished in 2006 and connected Olympia Street to Finley Road. The first phase, which stretches from I-82 to Olympia Street, was completed in 2004.

The overall project isn't finished, Dunfee said. The county plans to improve several other roads that link with the intertie, including Clodfelter and Locust Grove roads. The goal is to have a network of durable roads around the Horse Heaven Hills agricultural area, he said.

Another planned connection is to the intertie's north end, where county commissioners approved a new route for an approximately two-mile extension of Piert Road last month.