The Washington State Transportation Improvement Board (TIB) has awarded road and sidewalk improvement grants to 79 local agency projects, including an award of $406,291 to North Bend for improvements to the Bendigo Boulevard and Park Street intersection.

According to North Bend Mayor Ken Hearing, “There is a very high auto accident rate at this intersection and many near-miss pedestrian disasters there.”

Hearing said traffic is generally traveling too fast northbound on Bendigo.

The total project cost is $427,675 and the award is a 95-percent match, said North Bend Public Works Director and City Engineer Ron Garrow. Garrow said the city hopes that the state Department of Transportation (WSDOT) will come up with the match requirements.

“I think they want to participate in this,” Garrow said.

He said WSDOT had noted that the intersection is a high-accident location, but had not budgeted any funds for the project until 2007.

“The city wanted to act on this a lot sooner than WSDOT’s schedule and was able to get TIB funding for it,” Garrow said. “[DOT] is going to consider providing us with some of the local match requirements.”

Garrow said the city plans to install a signal at the intersection “so that we have four-way control of the movements through that intersection.”

The project won’t start until July 1, 2006, when the grant funds become available. Garrow said the project will probably take about nine months to complete and that there should be minimal interruption to traffic in the area.

The city hopes to hear back from WSDOT before Christmas on whether it will provide the local matching funds.