City Of Wenatchee Selects Two Firms To Design/Build Confluence Pkwy. Project

The City of Wenatchee has selected a pair of firms to assist with the next phase of its massive Confluence Parkway Project.

The City has contracted with Kraemer North America, LLC of Seattle and Scarsella Bros., Inc. of Kent to jointly work on a progressive strategy to both design and build the project.

City Administrator, Laura Gloria, says the signings are one of the most critical steps in the Confluence effort to date.

"The project has been moving along but until we could get a designer and builder it was all really just a vision with a lot of moving parts. So this is the really key part to start designing the project's infrastructure and look at the various costs and components of it all. So this is really brining in the heavy hitters to get that process moving."

The process of selecting firms for the design-build phase of the project began back in July.

Gloria says the City received quality proposals from five separate firms and worked diligently to fast-track the process of singing the ones who it felt could best handle the project's demands.

"It was an intensive process, and we actually went through it in a fairly quick manner because we are trying to stay up to date with the obligations and timelines of our federal funding. So our team was on the clock twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, all hands on deck to get this done."

Over the next six months, Gloria says the City expects to have a preliminary design of the project complete and will be working with property owners who could potentially be affected by its eventual construction.

The Confluence Parkway Project has an estimated total price tag of roughly $177 million, with $92 million provided by a federal Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) program grant.

The project features a 2.5-mile bypass at the north end of Wenatchee, which includes the construction of a new vehicle bridge over the Wenatchee River that will connect with U.S. Highways 2 & 97.

The City currently estimates it will break ground on the project in the spring of 2025.