Cheney council approves six-year transportation plan

The Cheney City Council unanimously adopted the city’s six-year transportation plan at its June 27 meeting, providing a list of projects the city hopes to accomplish between 2018 – 2023. The document also enables the city to apply for grant funding for those projects, something the city has been successful with in the past and would seek more funding in the future, Public Works Director Todd Ableman said.

The plan calls for $1.76 million in residential street work, with $258,000 planned for grant matching funds from the city. Arterial street projects are projected at $2.32 million.

All total, the plan calls for 8.62 miles of street improvements, broken down into 5.37 miles of funded local access streets and 3.25 miles of arterial streets.

Council also approved a $27,412 contract with LC McFarland Company to purchase 48 wood poles for the Lighting Department. The department is currently involved in a line rebuild project taking place between Fourth and Seventh streets, and had a planned power outage on July 11 from 11 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. for customers on Seventh and even-numbered homes on Sixth Street between G and J streets. Times are approximate.

In staff reports, City Administrator Mark Schuller said the city has been experiencing a rash of vandalism at Centennial Park on North Seventh Street. Schuller said it appears to be the same group of juveniles that vandalized the park about this time last year, and asked the community to be vigilant and report suspicious activity in the area.

“We’d like to get out and catch these kids,” he said, noting the damage had been removed.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].