Locke signs bill assuring parkway fix

Capital budget bill also has help for Evergreen

PATRICK CONDON, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published Friday, March 29, 2002

OLYMPIA -- Gov. Gary Locke put to rest months of uncertainty over the fate of a few local projects Thursday when he signed the capital construction bill.

With the stroke of Locke's pen, the Department of General Administration got the OK to release bids for repairs to the earthquake-battered Deschutes Parkway.

The Evergreen State College also can continue with construction of the Seminar II classroom building, and can expect $2.5 million for repairs to the library roof and a $6.1 million loan for expansion of its child care center.

Adds $110 million

The capital budget adds $110 million in new projects to last year's $880 million capital budget. Locke and supporters have touted the additions as economic stimulus for the state's lagging economy.

The supplemental budget also shores up some projects that were endangered last year when economic troubles hurt the state's ability to pay off construction bonds.

Locke said the new projects will create about 2,500 jobs statewide, "providing an immediate economic stimulus in every part of the state."

"Thank God," said Edie Harding, director of governmental relations at Evergreen. Construction of the Seminar II Building is under way, so the school would have been in a precarious position if the supplemental capital budget had not come through.

The $850,000 for Deschutes Parkway, combined with a previous $250,000 grant from the state, will be added to $6 million in federal money for the project, which is slated to get under way at the beginning of July and finish by Christmas.

Other projects

In addition to the Deschutes work, which will close the parkway from Fifth Avenue all the way to Interstate 5, General Administration is planning several other projects around Capitol Lake and Heritage Park:

- A $1.4 million effort to shore up the sagging hill underneath the Temple of Justice, which overlooks Capitol Lake from the Capitol Campus. That project will start in May, and the trail that winds down the hill to the lake will be closed from May 1 until at least October.

- Adding parking spaces for Heritage Park near the corner of Water Street and Seventh Avenue. The work will block some access to the park, and it might necessitate a temporary relocation of the playground equipment. The work will get under way in August and should last through December.

Despite all the work, Heritage Park won't be entirely closed off to the public at any point, said Grant Fredricks, deputy director of General Administration.

On the Web:

- Gov. Gary Locke

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