Island County approves time extension for federally funded horizontal-curve safety study with DKS Associates

The Board of Island County Commissioners on Thursday approved Supplemental Agreement No.1 with DKS Associates to extend the timeline on a federally funded evaluation of horizontal-curve signing on county roads.

An agency official identified in the record as the county engineer told commissioners the Highway Safety Improvement Program-funded contract has been under way since 2024 and is “approximately 75 to 80% complete with the contract,” but cannot be finished this year because changes to speed limits and required approvals from higher authorities affect signage decisions. “We were told we could not continue with the contract if we don't have the completion date correct into 2026,” the county engineer said, explaining the need for the time-only extension and that there is no change in the contract cost.

The board moved and seconded approval of the supplemental agreement and recorded affirmative votes; the county engineer said the change prevents the existing contract from becoming null and void and avoids restarting the procurement.

Why it matters: the evaluation covers roughly 120 miles of county roads and informs where curve-warning signage is needed; changes in speed limits would affect recommended signage and therefore the study timeline and deliverables.

What’s next: staff said the extended timetable will allow completion of the speed-study analysis and incorporation of any speed-limit changes before the final report is submitted to the state/local programs office.

Quoted in this article: the county engineer (identified in the transcript only by role).