Wenatchee council approves $835,270 SR‑285 couplet signal upgrades; project prospectus and local agency agreement authorized

The Wenatchee City Council voted to approve the project budget and to authorize the city administrator to sign the project prospectus and the Local Agency Agreement to proceed with the SR‑285 couplet signal upgrades. Council Member Hornby moved the motion; Council Member Atkinson seconded and the council approved the action by voice vote.

Project engineer Jesse Keane told the council the City’s Local Road Safety Plan identified the SR‑285 couplet as a corridor with a high share of serious‑injury collisions. Keane said the upgrades would replace existing 12‑inch red and 8‑inch yellow/green signal heads with 12‑inch heads for all colors, add retroreflective backplates and install so‑called programmable heads (a lens overlay that reduces the “sea of green” effect for approaching drivers) in conformance with the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD).

Keane said the project’s total budget is $835,270 and that it is funded by a Highway Safety Improvement grant; staff stated the project is eligible for federal funding (the transcript noted an unspecified percent of federal funding) and said there would be no city match. Construction is planned to begin in 2026. Keane said the couplet corridor accounts for approximately 10% of the city’s collisions and that 35% of those were rear‑end collisions and 23% were T‑type crashes.

Council approved the motion by voice vote. The authorization for the city administrator to sign the project prospectus and Local Agency Agreement allows the city to begin charging project costs to the grant award and move forward with design and procurement steps that precede construction.

No construction contract or final bid was awarded at the meeting.