Confluence Parkway Phase 1 officially underway after Thursday groundbreaking ceremony

WENATCHEE — Construction for Phase 1 of the Confluence Parkway Project kicked off Thursday with a groundbreaking ceremony.

Wenatchee Mayor Mike Poirier, U.S. Rep. Kim Schrier (D-8th), U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) and Chelan County Commissioner Brad Hawkins were all in attendance and spoke of their gratitude for the official commencement of Phase 1, and all of the many people who worked behind-the-scenes to help bring the project to fruition.

The Confluence Parkway Project is a major bridge and street construction project, broken up into five phases.

“The Confluence Parkway is designed to bring communities together,” said City of Wenatchee public works director Tom Wachholder. “This project will improve mobility, enhance safety for all users, including drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians, reduce congestion and provide a critical new emergency access route, making our city more resilient and better connected.”

Phase 1 of the project will include:

• Two new bridges across the BNSF Railway at McKittrick Street and North Miller Street
• 1.25 miles of new street for motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians
• Further extension of McKittrick Street
• A new roundabout intersection at North Miller Street and Hawley Street
• A new signalized intersection at Maple Street
• Direct access to trails and parks

The project is funded by $85 million in Move Ahead Washington State grants and a $92 million federal INFRA grant through the U.S. Department of Transportation.

“In June 2021, the administration officially awarded a $92 million dollar INFRA grant to the City of Wenatchee,” said Schrier. “In fact, it was the largest grant anywhere in the entire country that year. It could not have gone to a more deserving project.”

Throughout the ceremony, Cantwell repeatedly stressed the positive impact that the Confluence Parkway Project stands to have in terms of freight and transportation.

“We need this part of infrastructure to have agriculture produced and to reach markets in a timely fashion, because otherwise, you know, we’ll lose shelf space,” said Cantwell. “The investment is about moving freight. We were able to convince people nationally that anything that moved freight creates jobs, helps create competitiveness for us and helps us deliver to that market in a timely fashion.”

The design plans for Phase 1 resulted in the relocation of many businesses that were leasing the properties acquired by the City of Wenatchee for construction. Some businesses, such as Bear Signs & Embroidery and Expressions by Murph, had relatively pleasant experiences working with the city to relocate.

However, other business owners expressed having difficult experiences. Earhart’s Collision & Automotive Services co-owner Lisa Earhart cited issues with timely reimbursements from the city and Wenatchee School of Karate owners Dave O’Connor and Kari Erickson had to temporarily vacate their personal residence and longtime dojo space all while dealing with O’Connor’s battle with stage 4 cancer.

When asked about what lessons were learned from relocating businesses for Phase 1 of the project that might improve relocations involved in future phases, Wenatchee Mayor Mike Poirier said the city would continue working on its outreach and communication efforts, but that he was overall satisfied with the city’s efforts for Phase 1.

“What’s interesting is if you own the business yourself, if I just bought that business as a private person, you don’t even accommodate tenants. That’s not how it works,” said Poirier. “Very seldom you will hear very few comments about the actual owner of the property. It’s the tenants. We know we need to care about them and we know we need to continue the outreach, but overall I believe we’re actually doing a good job giving some support financially with bringing them up through the permit process to try and get them as far as we can. I think we did an unbelievable job versus somebody that would just buy the business and not care about the tenants.”

Phase 1 is scheduled to be completed by late 2027. Planning for the second phase includes a second bridge over the Wenatchee River.