The Kelso City Council voted last night to pass its Six-Year 2027-2032 Transportation Improvement Program; however, the bicycle and pedestrian safety improvements portion of the proposal was not included.

This came after the council voted during the June 16th meeting to bring the proposal back without those changes to Fourth and Fifth Avenues, Cowlitz Way, and the Allen Street Bridge due to constituent pushback and internal disagreement.

The heart of the debate last night was regarding the $242,000 in engineering expenditures that the city had already spent on the project. City staff said that the Washington State Department of Transportation could potentially require the city to repay some or all of that money if the bicycle and pedestrian safety improvements were abandoned. Councilmember Keenan Harvey responded, stating, “So what I’m hearing is we collected money for a project that was already unfavorable even though we hadn’t had a chance to vote on it as a council. The reality is this project is wildly unfavorable to the people that voted us in. If the state is going to do it, they’re going to do it. But we don’t have to hang our hats on it. We don’t have to be the fall guys for their bad designs.”

City Manager Andrew Hamilton also warned that the removal could damage the city’s credibility with state and federal funding agencies.

With the amended Transportation Improvement Program, two other projects remained: the Talley Way Corridor Improvements and the Systemic Safety Improvements 2023 project, which includes pedestrian crossing improvements citywide.