County engineer outlines East‑West corridor, bridge work and asset management priorities for 2025

Matt, Yakima County’s county engineer, briefed the Board of Commissioners on March 3 about the county roads department’s 2024 accomplishments and 2025 priorities, focusing on the long‑running East‑West (Independence) corridor project, two major timber bridge replacements, and improvements to construction and asset‑management systems.

Matt said the East‑West corridor design and right‑of‑way work are effectively complete and that the outstanding hold‑up is agreements and clearances with federal and state agencies — principally Federal Highway Administration, Department of Ecology and the state attorney general’s office — over contaminated wood waste that must be removed from the project footprint before construction can proceed. “We are making progress…we are ready to go. We have money peed up,” he said, but added that the county is awaiting ecological approvals and FEMA/NEPA coordination.

Bridges and construction priorities: Matt said the county has obligated construction funds on two timber bridges (Bridges 105 and 109) on North Fork/Tandem Road and expects the projects to proceed, but that construction is complicated because of site constraints and the need to maintain traffic with temporary shoe‑fly alignments. He also described five other bridges in earlier design stages. The county’s approach includes retaining engineers for grant writing and using a cloud‑based construction management system (e‑Builder) to track contracts and inspections.

Maintenance and policy changes: Matt previewed a proposed two‑tier gravel‑road priority array to distinguish connectivity roads (arterials connecting paved segments) from low‑use residential access roads, with potential design concessions and local cost‑share for some residential improvements. He said the department needs a roadside safety inventory and prioritized guardrail upgrades, and that recruiting and retaining qualified staff (bridge inspectors, surveyors, drone operators) remains a near‑term personnel priority.

Funding and schedule: Matt said some federal funding is ready to obligate and that selected projects should obligate construction funds this fall; other projects may require grant applications. He said right‑of‑way acquisition is largely complete for several projects and that construction could move forward in 2025 for selected work.

Commissioners thanked staff for responsiveness on routine road maintenance and asked for continued outreach on project timelines. Matt said the department will continue grant‑seeking, complete right‑of‑way tasks, and prioritize safety‑related inventories and staff credentialing in 2025.