A bicyclist and a pedestrian travel north on Highway 20 near Idle-A-While Motel on Monday evening (June 3). Twisp plans to build a sidewalk and bike lanes on this portion of the highway in 2021.
Road work scheduled to begin last month on Canyon Street in Twisp has been delayed because the contractor hired for the job, Hurst Construction of Wenatchee, is busy making emergency repairs on Highway 20 east of Loup Loup Pass, where a mudslide undercut the roadway.
The Canyon Street project “hopefully will begin by June 10,” Twisp Public Works Director Andrew Denham said Monday (June 3). Crews will replace water lines, repair sewers, add a sidewalk along the length of the street, and reconstruct and repave the road surface.
Only $20,000 of the $781,000 project cost is coming directly from town funds. The state Transportation Improvement Board and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are covering most of the cost. The Methow Housing Trust, which is building 13 single-family homes on Canyon Street, is contributing $71,620 to the sidewalk work, Denham said.
In overseeing the Canyon Street project, town officials will do what they can to limit street closures and extended delays, and maintain access to homes along the street, Denham said.
Work on Canyon Street should still be completed on time, by Oct. 1.
Sidewalk work
Looking farther ahead, Twisp received a $1.34 million state grant that will make the walk or bicycle ride from downtown Twisp to homes and businesses on the north end of town safer.
A sidewalk, bike lanes and crosswalks will be added to a 0.39-mile stretch of Highway 20, from the Twisp River Bridge to Days Lane. The sidewalk will be installed on the west side of the highway. The grant will cover about $950,000 for construction, $197,000 for engineering and design, and a $142,476 “contingency” — a cushion to absorb unanticipated construction costs. An inflation factor also was added.
The highway sidewalk will be installed in 2021, one year later than originally planned. Denham said he first wants to replace a water line that runs along the west side of the highway, underneath the future sidewalk.
The town will replace water line on Highway 20 and the lines on all of the town’s streets north of the Twisp River in 2020. This project also includes resurfacing the town’s streets — Ainsworth, Burgar, Days and Hagerman — and part of Highway 20. The project can’t go forward unless the town receives a Transportation Improvement Board grant for the repaving.
“Chances are very high we will be successful” with the grant, Denham said.
New water lines north of Twisp River will bring flow capacity above the recommended 1,000 gallons per minute (gpm) for firefighting. Fire flow capacity in that part of town is as low as 300 gpm currently, Denham said.
Work on the north side in 2020 also will include repairs to the sewer lines, with money from the town’s sewer capital reserves.
Water lines laid in 1939 or 1949 — and at least one from 1912 — are being replaced throughout the town over four years. The U.S. Department of Agriculture provided $2.6 million in grants and loans for the work.
