Pateros approves TIB grant for Commercial Avenue project

PATEROS – The city council held a special meeting on Monday, March 25, to approve a significant grant from the state Transportation Improvement Board (TIB) to fund improvements to Commercial Avenue.

The $881,239 grant—which includes $100,000 of city match funds—has been in the planning, application, and approval stages for ten years.

Commercial Avenue is the delivery door to businesses, customer parking, pedestrian access, and the primary traffic collector off US 97. The street has a transit stop for two lines and newly installed electric vehicle & bicycle charging stations. It supports delivery vans and trucks, recreation vehicles (trailers, boats, RVs, campers, motorcycles), pedestrians, and bicyclists. The street is wide, straight, long, and speed-friendly. It needs visual landscaping, tenant signs, and way-finding features for pedestrians and vehicles visiting mall businesses.

The campaign began with the downtown redevelopment plan following the 2014 Carlton Complex wildfire that destroyed 111 homes in and around the city. Landscaping, access, parking, and signage improvements to the Commercial Avenue corridor included a new Recreation Base Camp sign to replace the current large panel version.

In February 2022, a stormwater landscapes and signage plan proposed stormwater collection landscapes of boulders, logs, native stones, and grasses similar to those along Lakeshore Drive near the downtown pump station.

In February 2024, the city submitted a schematic plan and TIB funding application for Commercial Avenue from Lakeshore Drive on the west end to S. Dawson Street on the east end. It featured all the components for the upgrade, from ADA ramps and lighting to new signage and designated parking. On March 22, the project received TIB approval in its first selection round.

The TIB is an independent state agency created by the Legislature to fund high-priority community transportation projects in 320 cities and urban counties throughout the state. Its grants come from revenue generated by a three-cent statewide gas tax.

Mike Maltais: 360-333-8483 or michael@ward.media