After nearly a decade of trying to come up with the funding to make the notorious “Dysfunction Junction” a bit less dysfunctional, the city of Buckley is poised to advertise for a general contractor to bid on the estimated $2.5 million project.
The council unanimously gave the green light recently to authorize the search for a contractor to initiate Phase One of the project, which will comprise of completing the connection and realignment of Ryan Road to 112th Street East with reconfiguration of the intersection at state Route 165.
Construction will include relocation of the trail at the road crossing, new roadway construction, wetland mitigation and stormwater improvements.
The city will come up with $370,000 out of its street fund and storm capital accounts, but the lion’s share of the funding will come from three separate sources, the foremost of which is a Transportation Improvement Board grant from the state of Washington for $837,000.
The balance of the expenditures will be covered through a $500,000 Puget Sound Regional Council-Rural Corridor grant and a sizable Federal Highway Administration grant.
Buckley City Admin-istrator David Schmidt, said the only hurdle before advertising the project for bid is a final OK from the Department of Transportation.
Schmidt said the city is hoping to put the project up for bid May 18.
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