Road building in Ellensburg and Kittitas County

Anybody can push a track through dry ground in July. The road that matters is the one that still works during spring thaw, when the frost comes out and the subgrade turns soft, and that road is built differently from the start.

We cut and crown so water sheds off both sides instead of running down the middle, ditch both shoulders where the ground allows, set culverts at every crossing and every low point, and build the base in lifts of pit run with crushed surfacing on top. The crown and the ditches do more for a road than another two inches of rock ever will.

Out here that means private roads and shared lanes to back building sites, farm and field access, lanes between pivots and barns, and the long driveways that serve a single house a half mile off the county road. On a new rural build the access road is often the first thing that has to exist, because nothing else can get in until it does.

If the build needs a fire apparatus turnaround or a grade and width the county will sign off on, tell us that before we start and we will build to it rather than cutting it in twice.