County selects private contractor to improve 99th Street

Vancouver, WA – Federal stimulus dollars will be used to improve a stretch of Northeast 99th Street in Orchards and support more than 40 private-sector construction jobs in 2009 and 2010. The project will be the county’s first Green Street project, to include rain gardens with vegetation to reduce irrigation and maximize filtration.

Clark County commissioners awarded a $4.5 million contract today to Rotschy Inc. of Vancouver to widen the street, from about a block east of Northeast 17th Avenue/SR 503 to the vicinity of Northeast 137th Avenue.

The project will use low-impact development techniques to manage and treat storm runoff. These techniques include the construction of pervious concrete sidewalks, which allow stormwater to soak through the sidewalk. Rain gardens will collect and clean stormwater runoff from the roadway.

Work is expected to begin next month and take about 10 months to widen two vehicle lands, create a center left-turn lane and add bike lanes and sidewalks. A later project will upgrade the Northeast 99th Street/SR 503 intersection.

The project will use a $2.5 million economic stimulus grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, along with $2.6 million in county road dollars.

For more information about the Northeast 99th Street improvement project visit the Web site http://www.clark.wa.gov/public-works/NE99th.html.