Workers raise a utility access point at the intersection of Poplar and First Avenue in Walla Walla.

WALLA WALLA — Spring rain that encourages the new growth of brightly colored flowers this time of year is not so encouraging for road projects underway in Walla Walla.

City officials are hoping for mild weather in coming weeks to allow crews to finish the work needed to reopen the corridors of Alder, Poplar and Park in early May.

Poplar Street is anticipated to be closed between Monday, April 17, through Friday, April 21.

Weather permitting, crews will place asphalt from Second Avenue to Colville Street and inlay the road striping that week, said project manager Monte Puymon.

“We have to have warm temperatures, we have to have a dry surface, and we just missed getting that completed last fall before winter shut us down for good,” he said. “It’s hard to know what the weather’s going to do to us this time of year with spring rain, but I’m pretty confident we’ll have it open by the turn of the month.”

Recent work along the route has included raising the access points for area utilities, including water valves and manholes for stormwater and wastewater, to the appropriate level.

Puymon said the access points look raised now, but once the last of the asphalt is in place, the surface will be smooth and level.

Landscaping work is also underway in the area, and a new traffic signal controller will need to be installed at the intersection of Second and Poplar.

That intersection will remain open but will convert to a four way stop for the duration of that work, Puymon said. The dates for the work are not yet set.

Puymon said ice melt damaged newly installed sidewalks throughout the area because the sealing compound wasn’t applied before winter weather arrived.

Several panels will have to be removed and replaced as a result, and the additional costs associated with this work will be shared by the city and contractor, Puymon said. An estimate of those costs wasn’t yet available, he said.

Alder and Poplar

The first phase of the Alder and Poplar project is open to traffic, project manager Adam Klein said.

Vehicles could traverse Palouse Street and use the new roundabouts added at the intersections of Alder and Palouse and Poplar and Palouse beginning in early April. Poplar Street also reopened west of the roundabout.

Klein said crews are working to landscape the area and preparing to groove the concrete and asphalt to stripe the second phase of work, which is along Park Street.

Because the concrete has a 45-day cure time, that work can’t begin until April 24. Condition-dependent, that piece will be complete with the road reopened by the second week of May, Klein said.

Safety upgrades and more

Together, these projects have several implications for traffic efficiency and safety, Puymon said.

The projects eliminated six traffic signals, which reduces stop-and-go travel through the corridor, he said. Changes were made to allow left turns on flashing yellow in some places, and there is a dedicated left turn lane at Second and Poplar.

To help improve pedestrian safety, bike lanes will follow both Alder and Poplar and flashing beacons were installed throughout the corridor to signal to drivers that someone is waiting to cross, Puymon said.

A new center turn lane was added on Poplar to stave off rear-end collisions, and the roundabouts added at the intersections of Alder and Palouse and Poplar and Palouse should reduce serious and fatal collisions, Puymon said.

“The reason for that is instead of having a potential head-on collisions, the nature of the roundabout is securing those ongoing collisions to be more sideswipe or angle-related,” he said. “While there may still be property damage to the vehicles, the impacts are diminished by those glancing blows versus head-on collisions.”

Filtration systems were also added to filter stormwater runoff that discharges to Mill Creek.

“Roadways experience chemicals coming from automobiles on the street, and when it rains, it washes those into the stormwater system,” Puymon explained. “Previously, that discharged directly to Mill Creek, and we are now infiltrating everything that falls within the corridor limits from Park to Fifth.”

Puymon said the projects in the corridor total about $15 million. Almost half of that, $7.2 million, was covered by state and federal grants.