Cowlitz County unveils $142.5 million six-year road program; bridges and Dike Road hinge on outside funds and permits

Cowlitz County’s county engineer detailed a six-year transportation program Thursday that lists about $142.5 million in projects from 2026 through 2031, with roughly $23.8 million estimated for 2026. County officials said nearly all 2026 spending is secured but funding for later years is much less certain and depends on federal and state grants, ARPA funds and permitting timelines.

Susan (county engineer) presented the program and an overview of the county road system. She said Cowlitz County maintains 527 centerline miles of road, about 70 miles (roughly 13%) in urban areas and the rest in rural areas; the county currently lists about five unpaved miles. The county inventory includes 68 bridges; 37 of those bridges are more than 50 years old and 13 bridges have load restrictions (about 19% of county bridges). She said the oldest structures date to the 1920s and 1930s, noting the Seattle Creek Bridge (Old Highway 99 South) was built in 1922, Barnes Drive in 1923 and the Toutle River (Old Pacific Highway North, known locally as the Mickey Mouse Bridge) in 1935.

The program lists projects funded from federal surface transportation block grants (STP), the Federal Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP), PROTECT and FEMA emergency funds, state programs administered by the County Road Administration Board (CRAB) and a range of local funds, including American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars. Susan said the county receives roughly $1–2 million a year in the local road fund for match and local-only projects and that the county has used ARPA funds to advance several large projects.

Staff said roughly 99% of the 2026 funding is secured as of this presentation; the federal share for 2026 is about $7.7 million (roughly 52% of the year’s funding), state contributions about $3.8 million and local dollars (including ARPA) about $12.3 million. Notable 2026 projects include South Cloverdale Road (under construction; original low season work done and more work remaining against a roughly $7.5 million contract), a $2.25 million bridge-replacement project for Allender Road with about $2.0 million in federal bridge funds, and several slide and drainage restorations. Staff said Mill Creek Bridge received design and replacement funding in a recent bridge-call award, and additional culvert replacements and bridge designs are in process.

The Dike Road reconstruction project stood out in the presentation. Susan said the project carries a substantial local-dollar match (about $3.4 million local and $1.6 million in CRAB funds listed in the presentation) and is waiting for a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Section 408 permit. She said progress on that permit has been delayed because the Corps required detailed utility information and the county has been coordinating with franchise utilities to get accurate utility plans. Susan described typical project-delivery delays caused by property-rights negotiations, changing environmental permit requirements and the time needed for appraisals and right-of-way work.

Susan summarized typical delivery timelines and common causes of delay: property-owner holdouts, probate or ownership issues, evolving environmental rules that require plan changes, and long lead times for appraisals. She said the county is working to build more in-house right-of-way and appraisal capacity to reduce reliance on consultants and speed delivery.

County engineers and Public Works staff also described a set of design-phase projects for 2026–2027 (Delameter Road culvert replacements, Burma Road extension, Owl Creek bridge replacement design, corridor safety projects and others) and said that many projects beyond 2027 remain contingent on competitive grants and external approvals.

The presentation closed with a list of additional candidate projects the county maintains for future grant applications and prioritization. Staff asked the commissioners to review priorities and suggested the workshop setting allowed commissioners to adjust priorities before final adoption as part of the 2026 budget.