Part Of E Wenatchee 5th Street Closing For Last Leg Of Project

A two-block portion of 5th Street NE in East Wenatchee will be closed for a paving project on Tuesday and Wednesday. 

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The final portion of the 5th Street Safe Routes to School Project calls for repaving the roadway between North Kansas Avenue and North Kentucky Avenue.  

The project will close 5th Street during the day, but it'll reopen in the evening.  

North Kentucky Avenue will also have flagger-controlled traffic Tuesday and Wednesday. 

The $7.1 million 5th Street Safe Routes to School Project brought new sidewalks, streetlights, enhanced pedestrian crossings, bike lanes and stormwater upgrades to 5th Street. 

The upgrades have been made to improve safety near Kenroy Elementary and Sterling Junior High School. 

About $6.8 million from the federally funded Safe Routes to School program was used to provide safe walking paths for kids between schools and residential areas. 

The Sterling Intermediate School project received $3,233,249 to improve 5th Street NE between N Georgia Ave and N James.  

The Kenroy Elementary project received $3,560,363 in federal funds for improvements on 5th Street NE between N Jonathan Ave and N Kentucky Ave.  

Active Construction Inc. of East Wenatchee offered the lowest bid and was awarded the contract. The bid was 5.2% below the engineers estimate of $7,072,016.37.  

Preliminary design work started in 2020.  The project finally got off the ground in June of last year after delays from COVID-19 and cost hikes.   

Funding from the Street Safe Routes to School program is used for projects within two-miles of primary, middle and high schools (K-12). 

According to the Washington Department of Transportation, the program has awarded $135 million for 270 projects since 2005.