Last of Franklin County’s snow-damaged roads to reopen in June

The last of Franklin County’s storm-ravaged rural roads should reopen by late June.

The county is preparing to award bids totaling roughly $1 million. It is working to repair the roads most damaged by flooding when a February warmup caused months of accumulated ice and snow to melt quickly, triggering the equivalent of a 100-year flood.

The county repaired and reopened most of the 40-plus stretches closed in the days and weeks that followed the Presidents Day emergency.

County employees repaired much of the damage, which occurred as farmers were beginning to prepare fields for the 2017 growing season.

But the last seven roads, concentrated in three areas, require outside expertise, said Matt Mahoney, the county’s public works director.

Lind Road, northeast of Connell, and Ironwood Road, southwest of Mesa, remain completely closed after sections washed out. Snake River Road and McClenny Road, between the Pasco-Kahlotus Road and the Snake River, and Hoover Road, Copp Road and Wadsworth Road near Connell are closed to through traffic but open to locals.

Mahoney said the Lind and Ironwood closures have been challenging for farmers operating on both sides of the washouts.

“It’s a long detour to drive their equipment around,” he said.

The county solicited bids for three sets of repairs. The elected commission is expected to approve the bids within the week. The winning contractors will have five days to finalize the contracts and 20 to complete repairs.

• Ironwood Road is bid as its own project. Repairs are expected to cost $236,000.
• Snake River and McClenny are being bid as a package and are expected to cost $195,000 to repair.
• Lind, Hoover, Copp and Wadsworth roads are grouped as one project and will cost an estimated $492,000.

The commission declared a state of emergency on Feb. 20 as the flooding wreaked havoc on rural county roads. The damage estimate is now close to $5 million, Mahoney said.

Some of the cost could be covered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency after President Donald Trump declared a disaster for Franklin, and a dozen neighboring counties due to the severe storm weather.

Gov. Jay Inslee sought the declaration, which allows local jurisdictions to seek assistance paying the cost of the emergency response.

This story was originally published May 20, 2017 at 5:56 PM with the headline "Last of Franklin County’s snow-damaged roads to reopen in June."