East Wenatchee advances pedestrian safety, reshapes transportation priorities

EAST WENATCHEE — The East Wenatchee City Council approved a series of transportation-related actions Tuesday night that city staff said will advance long-requested pedestrian safety improvements, leverage outside grant funding, and reshape the city’s short-term street project priorities.

Taken together, the decisions reflect a strategy of using local transportation dollars to attract state grants while timing projects to coordinate with utility work and minimize disruption.

Public Works Manager Garren Melton presented several of the items, beginning with approval of a Transportation Improvement Board (TIB) Streets grant for a package of small-scale pedestrian projects that staff said have generated repeated community feedback.

The grant, totaling $742,912, supports four projects citywide. One closes a sidewalk gap on Grover Street between 8th and 9th streets, an area staff described as a key connection between two schools. Three new crosswalks are also included: one on Rock Island Road near the police department and Link Transit stops, another near a heavily used soccer field on 9th Street, and a third near the intersection of 4th Street SE and S. Kansas Avenue.

The S. Kansas location sits between Grant Elementary, Tedford Park, and newer neighborhoods developing south of city limits, making it a frequent pedestrian route. Melton said the city has received repeated requests for improvements at that site, calling it “probably the fifth or sixth email I’ve gotten for a crossing in that location.”

Total project costs are estimated at about $862,000, with Link Transit contributing $100,000 toward the local match. The city’s share is expected to be about $30,000. Council approved the grant agreement unanimously.

The council also voted to update the East Wenatchee Transportation Benefit District (TBD) project list, a move staff said reflects recent grant successes and upcoming coordination opportunities. The TBD is funded by a 0.1% local sales tax and generates roughly $500,000 to $550,000 per year for transportation capital projects.

Melton told the council the city’s general approach is to use TBD dollars first as matching funds to leverage grant opportunities. “The priority order I generally use is to use that money as matching dollars first, try to leverage it for as many grant dollars as we can get with it,” he said.

Among the key changes approved Tuesday, the city moved Eastmont-related work higher on the priority list to align with planned water system upgrades by the East Wenatchee Water District. Staff also removed the 5th Street NE project from the TBD list, saying recent grant awards eliminated the need for a large local match and freed up TBD funds for other projects.

During discussion, Melton described how coordination with the water district allows the city to share costs, with the district replacing water mains while the city overlays streets, resulting in a new road surface and upgraded utilities at the same time.

The council also approved a major grant agreement for N. Kentucky Avenue, a corridor city leaders have repeatedly described as a high-need area for pedestrian and multimodal improvements.

Through the TIB Complete Streets Program, the city secured a $2.5 million grant for multimodal improvements on N. Kentucky Avenue between Grant Road and 8th Street NE. That award builds on an earlier $2.3 million grant from the Washington State Department of Transportation’s Safe Routes to School program, bringing the total funding committed to about $5 million.

Staff said full construction is expected to cost roughly $7.5 million, leaving the city about $2.5 million short. Melton said additional grant applications are underway and noted that “having that five million dollars toward construction already dedicated just makes the next applications stronger.”

Melton also noted that Douglas County recently received grant funding for improvements on a nearby segment of 5th Street, and that city and county staff have discussed coordinating construction schedules to reduce neighborhood disruption and potentially achieve cost savings.

Councilmembers approved the N. Kentucky agreement unanimously.

Together, the actions signal a transportation program increasingly shaped by grant timing, interagency coordination, and targeted safety improvements, as East Wenatchee looks to stretch local dollars while responding to long-standing community concerns.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media