Where did Kennewick’s 3 Southridge horse sculptures disappear to?
Jeff Goldsbury got worried last week when people started calling him about the three missing horse sculptures along Highway 395.
His wife, Bonnie, spent hundreds of hours helping work on the metal artwork that greets drivers heading into Kennewick from the south. The horses flanked a large, curved Welcome to Kennewick sign.
What the Goldsburys didn’t know is the sculptures were safely moved into storage to make way for next month’s start of a multi-year road project.
Kennewick is launching construction on the $13 million underpass to reroute Ridgeline Drive under Highway 395/Interstate 82.
As part of the process, crews will need to use the area where the horses stood and will be demolishing the welcome sign.
“It hasn’t been determined where (the horses) will go,” said city spokeswoman Evelyn Lusignan. “We’ll find somewhere for them to go.”
The sharp edges on the metal make it tricky to put them near where people could touch them, she said.
At least two of the sculptures were commissioned by the city’s arts commission, with the help of Washington State University Tri-Cities professor Doug Gast.
Jeff Goldsbury told the Herald one of the horses is on loan to the city, and the other two were donated. He is hoping they will be well taken care of.
“A lot of our friends have horse ranches in the area,” he said. “We put their brands on the horses.”
Ridgeline Drive underpass
The Ridgeline Drive project aims to relieve congestion in the area and improve safety through a dangerous stretch that slows highway traffic as it passes through a busy part of the city for a few miles before continuing north toward Spokane.
New residential communities continue to fill south Kennewick, and the city expects that growth to continue, Lusignan said.
The underpass also will give businesses better, safer access to land along the highway, she said.
The project will add on- and off-ramps from the highway, making it possible to head left at the interchange.
That’s also expected to relieve the congestion at the Hildebrand Boulevard intersection to the north.
Officials decided on an underpass rather than a traffic light because the downhill slope at that point would be unsafe.
Kennewick and the Washington State Department of Transportation have been working on a solution for years.
The project received $15 million through Connecting Washington, the 2015 Legislature’s transportation package.
The same package put money toward Richland’s recently completed Duportail Bridge and Pasco’s Lewis Street overpass. Construction on that project is just getting underway.
Kennewick plans to extend South Zintel Way from Ridgeline Drive to West 40th Avenue. The extension will include a roundabout at Zintel and Ridgeline.
A new water line also will be installed with the underpass.
The project is expected to be finished in 2022.