College Place outlines summer public-works projects: sidewalks, lamps, road corridor work

College Place public works officials expect a busy construction season this summer, City Administrator Mike Rizztello said in an April 2025 project update.

Rizztello said a Transportation Improvement Board (TIB) grant will fund pedestrian street lamps extending from College Avenue toward the city limits at Cary Court. A long-delayed crosswalk near the post office is expected to be completed within about three weeks once the appropriate signs and poles arrive, he said.

The Regina Road corridor reconstruction project has grant funds assembled but is awaiting right-of-way acquisition; city staff expect to complete small acquisitions (about 5-foot strips) this spring and aim to bid the project this summer if acquisitions finish quickly. Engineering is near completion for a Southeast Eighth Street sidewalk that will run from College Avenue to Larch and Lyons Park, and the city aims for construction this summer.

Rizztello described several water and wastewater projects: a state Department of Ecology funding allocation is supporting phase 1a of wastewater treatment improvements, engineering and construction are underway, and a lift station (No. 5 on Southwest First) is under construction. He said First Street will be upgraded to look more like an urban street when work is complete, removing an existing small concrete fixture that he called a “coffee can” in the sidewalk.

The Whitman Path — a grant-funded project to fill a gap between Davis and Academy Way — is in engineering. The city acquired a property at 628 South College (referred to as the “Yellow House”) using tax-increment financing and plans to convert it and adjacent property into a shared public parking lot to support downtown reinvestment; additional state grant money will pay for pedestrian lighting, pavement work and sidewalk repairs nearby.

Rizztello said JUB, the city contract engineer, is working with the Lakeside development team on an east–west road across the new development and its intersection with College Avenue. He also said the city has begun cursory analysis of Owens Road as a potential future north–south connector.

Why it matters: These projects affect pedestrian safety, traffic flow, stormwater and wastewater infrastructure, and downtown parking capacity. Several projects rely on grants and property acquisitions, which will affect timing.

Rizztello urged residents to monitor project schedules and said right-of-way work and material deliveries are the primary pacing factors for summer construction.