City council moves forward on Buchanan Street project

The Washington City Council approved plans and cost estimates for a project on West Buchanan Street at its meeting on Tuesday night.

The $2.6 million plans, most funded by state and federal grants, would pave West Buchanan Street from the wastewater plant road to South Avenue E, creating a usable route from Highway 1 to the southwest side of town. The development will allow the city to expand the business park, adding eight industrially-zoned lots, according to the project web page.

Mike Murphy, a resident who would be affected by the project, voiced numerous complaints during the project’s public hearing portion of the meeting.

“Buchanon is a farm-to-market road, so how can we get our combines down a boulevard?” Murphy said. “This has been used as a farm to market road for over 100 years. If this is a boulevard, it will not allow machinery to the field without going through town, going down Highway 1, and then going through the current industrial park.”

Mayor Jaron Rosien acknowledged the concerns, but said they could be addressed while moving forward with the project.

“I would certainly recommend that council passes this resolution, continuing this important project,” Rosien said after the public hearing. “There have been eight different projects in the last 10 years that are related to this project. This is the ninth, and I firmly believe that valid questions deserve answers, and that we should still work to answer those questions as this project moves forward.”

City Administrator Brent Hinson said that pressing issues with the project had already been resolved.

“We always try to do projects that are sensitive to the surrounding environment,” he said. “We’re here as staff to do the greatest good for the community as a whole. This project definitely represents that, and you’ve got one person opposed, basically.”

The DOT will receive bids for the project on June 15, and the council plans to award a contract on July 6. The project would begin in early August or May 2022, depending on the opinion of the chosen contractor.