Ephrata completes $662,000 2026 chip-seal and fog-seal street project

EPHRATA, Wash. — Ephrata’s 2026 Chip Seal project reached its listed closeout date July 17, marking the completion of a street-preservation project with total costs of $661,871, according to the Washington State Transportation Improvement Board’s project dashboard.

The project used chip sealing and fog sealing on selected city streets. The state dashboard lists $617,974 in construction contract costs and $661,871 in total project costs. Ephrata provided $66,187 in local funding, or 10% of the project total.

Because chip sealing preserves existing pavement rather than reconstructing an entire road, the work addressed pavement condition on designated streets. It also affected roadway markings and driving conditions in the work areas.

Work included airport-area streets

A June 19 report by the Columbia Basin Herald said crews were scheduled to work from June 29 through July 2. The report identified Airport Street and Railroad Street near the Ephrata Municipal Airport among the streets on the work list.

The work sequence included cleaning the streets, applying oil and rock chips, sweeping loose material, placing a fog seal and completing pavement marking work. The city engineer described the sequence in the local report, which also quoted the city clerk.

For residents, commuters and businesses using the affected streets, that sequence meant the project involved more than the initial placement of chips. Sweeping and fog sealing followed the chip application, with pavement markings addressed later in the process.

Project status and funding

The Transportation Improvement Board dashboard identifies the City of Ephrata as the project owner and lists Ephrata’s local matching funds. The dashboard’s July 17 closeout date documents the project’s reported status after the construction window.

The dashboard does not list every street treated. It also does not independently verify that every final pavement marking was installed by the closeout date. The available reporting establishes that pavement marking was part of the described work sequence, while the state record establishes the project’s listed closeout and costs.

The completed project is therefore best understood as a targeted preservation effort on selected Ephrata streets, not a full reconstruction of the city’s road network. The documented next milestone is the July 17 closeout already recorded by the state dashboard; no later construction deadline or additional phase is identified in the approved records.