----Lewiston should seek up to $10 million in federal money to build the long-desired but controversial Bryden Canyon Road, Lewiston City Manager Scott D. Staples recommended Friday.
Without federal money obtained through a special grant or by having the project constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers the city probably won't be able to build the proposed route, Staples wrote in a report to the city council released Friday.
Bryden Canyon Road would connect the Southway Bridge over the Snake River to the west part of Lewiston Orchards. The report will be discussed at the council's meeting at 7 p.m. Monday at city hall.
The road's cost was estimated at $6.6 million in October 1988. With a seven-year inflation factor built in, the cost could be as high as $8.4 million.
But now, more than a year after those numbers were produced, the ''worst-case scenario'' could cost as much as $10 million, Staples said in an interview Friday.
The October 1988 cost estimates are broken down in the following manner: $4.18 million for actual construction; $1.16 million for five traffic signals; $954,000 for an Eighth Street grade connection and improvement; and $309,000 for right-of-way acquisition.
With inflation figured at 4 percent a year during a seven-year period, the cost reaches $8.4 million.
To pay for Bryden Canyon Road, Staples recommends the council allow the staff to look at applying for a federal demonstration grant. If it were obtained, money would be received during a five-year period beginning in 1992.
But the current round of such grants expires Sept. 30, 1991, and funding of future grants is expected to be debated in Congress.
Still, Staples recommends the city work with Idaho and federal lawmakers and officials to have Bryden Canyon Road be named as a state priority for funding.
To obtain such a grant, the city would not have to prepare in-depth reports on environmental impacts, traffic or other issues. The grant would pay to do so.
If demonstration grants aren't available, Lewiston and Clarkston officials could lobby area congressional representatives to have the corps of engineers build the road. The corps built the Southway Bridge, which opened in 1982. Lewiston Public Works Director Bud R. Van Stone, a former corps engineer, headed the project.
Even if such efforts fail, without making them it would be difficult to persuade local residents to pay for Bryden Canyon Road, Staples said.
''I think it is also likely that there is little, if any, possibility of a successful bond issue in the near future, unless it were commonly believed that we had done everything possible to obtain federal funding,'' Staples wrote in a memo to the council.
In 1983, 78 percent of those voting rejected a $3.75 million bond levy to build the proposed road.
An added complication is a study being done on possible pesticide problems in Bryden Canyon. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is expected to decide in 1991 whether the problems are severe enough to kill the project.
The city would learn of the EPA's decision before receiving any grant money or decision about the corps of engineers, Staples noted.
Meanwhile, Staples also recommends the council authorize city staff to look for ways to fund a community-wide transportation study. Doing so would give the city a way to determine future transportation needs and priorities and their financial effects.
But such studies aren't cheap. Staples and Van Stone estimate a comprehensive review could cost about $500,000 and take 18 months to two years to complete. The city doesn't have that kind of money. In fact, it has trouble coming up with enough funds to make adequate repairs on the city's current 220 miles of streets, Van Stone.
Without a study, city officials don't know if Bryden Canyon Road is necessary or is the best route linking Lewiston Orchards to the Southway Bridge.
But all indications from telephone surveys to a 4,000-signature petition gathered in 1988 are that Lewiston residents want the road, Van Stone said.
To pay for Bryden Canyon Road, Staples recommends the council allow the staff to look at applying for a federal demonstration grant. If it were obtained, money would be received during a five-year period beginning in 1992.
But the current round of such grants expires Sept. 30, 1991, and funding of future grants is expected to be debated in Congress.
Still, Staples recommends the city work with Idaho and federal lawmakers and officials to have Bryden Canyon Road be named as a state priority for funding.
To obtain such a grant, the city would not have to prepare in-depth reports on environmental impacts, traffic or other issues. The grant would pay to do so.
If demonstration grants aren't available, Lewiston and Clarkston officials could lobby area congressional representatives to have the corps of engineers build the road. The corps built the Southway Bridge, which opened in 1982. Lewiston Public Works Director Bud R. Van Stone, a former corps engineer, headed the project.
Even if such efforts fail, without making them it would be difficult to persuade local residents to pay for Bryden Canyon Road, Staples said.
''I think it is also likely that there is little, if any, possibility of a successful bond issue in the near future, unless it were commonly believed that we had done everything possible to obtain federal funding,'' Staples wrote in a memo to the council.
In 1983, 78 percent of those voting rejected a $3.75 million bond levy to build the road.
An added complication is a study being done on possible pesticide problems in Bryden Canyon. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is expected to decide in 1991 whether the problems are severe enough to kill the project.
The city would learn of the EPA's decision before receiving any grant money or decision about the corps of engineers, Staples noted.
Meanwhile, Staples also recommends the council authorize city staff to look for ways to fund a community-wide transportation study. Doing so would give the city a way to determine future transportation needs and priorities and their financial effects.
But such studies aren't cheap. Staples and Van Stone estimate a comprehensive review could cost about $500,000 and take 18 months to two years to complete. The city doesn't have that kind of money. In fact, it has trouble coming up with enough funds to make adequate repairs on the city's current 220 miles of streets, Van Stone.
Without a study, city officials don't know if Bryden Canyon Road is necessary or is the best route linking Lewiston Orchards to the Southway Bridge.
But all indications from telephone surveys to a 4,000-signature petition gathered in 1988 are that Lewiston residents want the road, Van Stone said.
