Residents will soon see $4 million of work start on new traffic medians along Pacific Highway South; improved salmon habitat and floodplain storage along the Green River; and a new bicycle/pedestrian trail in the Kent Valley.
The Kent City Council last month approved contract bids of $1 million for the Pacific Highway project, $2.2 million for the river work and $1.1 million for the trail.
Kent will fund the highway median work with business and occupation (B&O) tax funds. State and King County grants will cover most of the salmon habitat project with the city kicking in matching funds of $76,440. A Federal Highway Administration grant will pay for most of the bicycle trail with the city paying $176,635.
Pacific Highway medians
The council last year approved replacing busted-up, weed-infested medians along Pacific Highway South on the West Hill between South 240th Street and South 272nd Street to make the area more attractive for businesses and residents along the highway.
Crews will replace existing vegetation with new topsoil, a new irrigation system and new plants. The medians will feature rock-covered areas on each tip with flowering plants covering the rest. The city installed the medians in 2006.
No work will be done on medians between South 240th Street and Kent-Des Moines Road because of Sound Transit’s plans to build a new light rail station along the highway just north of South 240th for operation by 2023.
Renton-based Road Construction Northwest, Inc., made the low project bid out of five received by the city.
Salmon habitat
Crews will excavate a backwater channel tributary to the Green River that will provide rearing and refuge habitat for Chinook and other salmon species. The contract was awarded under the Mill Creek Side Channel/Leber Homestead project.
When completed, the project will include about 43 large wood structures and 51,000 native near-water and upland plantings. Existing mature trees along the banks of Mill Creek and the Green River will be preserved, according to city staff. Over 50 acre-feet of new floodplain storage (across from Riverview Park) will be provided after excavation that will reduce flood-levels in the area.
Chinook salmon are a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act in the Puget Sound. This project, along with others identified in the Green River Salmon Habitat Plan formed in 2005, are expected to create well over a mile of new off-channel habitat to substantially increase the survival of juvenile Chinook salmon in the lower Green River.
Grants were provided by the Salmon Recovery Funding Board, Puget Sound Acquisition and Restoration Fund, King County Cooperative Watershed Management fund and the King County Waterworks Grant Program.
The low project bid went to Kent-based Scarsella Brothers, Inc. The city received seven bids.
Regional Trails Connector
A 4,430-foot long trail extension will connect the Green River Trail and Interurban Trail to improve access for bicyclists and pedestrians to both trails.
The trail will run adjacent to the Green River Natural Resources Area and will include the installation of rectangular rapid flashing beacons at 64th Avenue South and 72nd Avenue South near South 218th Street. Crews also will install a HAWK signal (that allows users to stop traffic for a crosswalk) at the crossing of the West Valley Highway and a new non-motorized bridge to be built across Mill Creek on the east end connecting to the Interurban Trail near South 218th Street.
Sumner-based Pivetta Brothers Construction submitted the low project bid to the city, which received eight bids.
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