PULLMAN: Project Downtown is behind schedule
Main
Street in Pullman slated to open in November instead of anticipated October
date
By
Emily Pearce Moscow-Pullman Daily News Sept 28, 2024
PHOTO A crew works to prepare a
segment of the sidewalk for cement pouring along Main Street on Thursday in
Pullman. Another portion of the sidewalk across the street was poured earlier
this month. Liesbeth Powers/Moscow-Pullman Daily News file
PHOTO Construction equipment lays
along Main Street on Wednesday in downtown Pullman as the project nears its
estimated halfway point. Liesbeth Powers/Moscow-Pullman Daily News
……….
The city of Pullman’s project to
revitalize downtown is running behind schedule.
Mayor Francis Benjamin said the
city’s consultant Welch Comer, a Coeur d’Alene-based engineering firm, notified
staff the project’s completion date has been delayed to November. It was
anticipated the six-month construction period would finish in October.
The project is a city-led initiative
to fully upgrade downtown’s utilities, streets, sidewalks and more. The venture
encompasses all of Main Street, from Grand Avenue to Spring Street.
Since April, the area has been
closed to traffic while crews from Apollo Inc., a Kennewick, Wash.-based
construction company, rebuild downtown.
Benjamin said the contract
stipulated Main Street would reopen to at least one lane of traffic by Oct. 15,
but is now pushed to Nov. 1. The project should be fully completed by Nov. 22,
which he said is two days behind the agreed upon timeframe.
The delay was mainly caused by
contaminated soil and underground work. Benjamin said many utilities haven’t
been touched since being installed around a century ago. And over the course of
Pullman’s life, a few gas stations, car repair shops and fertilizer stores have
been housed downtown.
Soil contamination was anticipated,
he said, and a plan was put in place to address the pollutants. Early this
summer, crews sampled and treated the area while properly disposing of the
contaminated soil.
Benjamin said the contract specifies
Apollo would face fines from the city for being over schedule, however change
orders have been put in place that may prevent this. He said the Pullman City
Council approved the new timeline and may consider adjusting the contract
during its next meeting.
Other than the delay, Benjamin said
construction has gone well. Crews have run into a few issues, but he said there
hasn’t been any significant crisis.
According to past Moscow-Pullman
Daily News reporting, a gas line ruptured in May which caused an outage to
downtown customers for a day. A water line rupture in June caused a couple
businesses to lose service for a short period of time.
The city ran into more hiccups while
planning the project. It was anticipated the rebuild would begin in the summer
of 2023, however inflated construction market costs led the council to push
back the start date.
When the city first sent out the
project to bid in the fall of 2023, it received no contractors willing to do
the work for an initially anticipated four-month construction timeline.
Early this year when Apollo accepted
the city’s bid, the council was informed the project was over budget. According
to past reporting, the project was first estimated to cost $9.4 million total.
Apollo agreed to rebuild the area for $8.7 million, and the project ended up at
nearly $11.7 million total after contracting Welch Comer to create the design.
The project was funded by $9.5
million from the American Rescue Plan Act. Earlier this month the Whitman
County Commissioners gave the city $200,000 to help fund Project Downtown.
Francis said the city plans to make
up for additional costs by using money from local city tax dollars like the
city’s water and sewer utilities fund along with other options. Taking from
these reserves won’t negatively affect the city’s operations or delay any
future projects.
Some downtown business owners have
voiced frustrations, saying business is hurting because of the construction
project.
Pam Dabolt, owner of Palouse Country
Candy, said while downtown sidewalks have stayed open, she’s seen a significant
decline in customers.
She saw a 25% decline in business
when the rebuild began, which dropped further to 50%. Dabolt said she’s been
forced to take money out of her personal accounts to cover the bills of the
store.
“I’ve never been against this
project,” she said. “But it’s just made life challenging. I think, you know,
people just don’t like to be around the construction zone.”
She’s not alone. Michelle Kelly,
owner of Michelle’s Closet, said her business is struggling to operate because
of the project. She and other retail businesses anticipated sales to fall 30%,
but she said they have seen anywhere from a 40% to 80% decline.
Kelly said there aren’t a lot of
options for loans or financial relief, either. She said many businesses already
used COVID-19 relief funds, and there isn’t much else to apply to.
“We all knew that the construction
needed to be done,” she said. “But it’s hitting everybody a lot harder than all
of us anticipated.
Dabolt and Kelly said they hope
construction will wrap up as soon as possible and not run into the holiday
season.
“The only redeeming thing this year
will be the holidays,” Dabolt said. “We just want to get back to some degree of
normalcy.”
Benjamin said he’s heard owners’
concerns, and encourages people to visit downtown and to support businesses.
More information about Project Downtown Pullman is available at projectdowntownpullman.org
