Banks will soon be a two-stoplight town, and an open house for the project that will double the number of traffic signals in the city will be held Thursday, November 14 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Banks Fire District offices.
Where Banks’ Main Street meets Banks Road and Cedar Canyon Road will soon be an intersection with a traffic light, in place of the current stop sign.
An option for a roundabout was considered, and discarded.
Instead, the intersection will be realigned, and sidewalks will be added on Banks Road and Main Street.
The Nov. 14 open house is billed as a “meet the contractor” event, and on hand will be local construction company Pihl, Inc, which was the lowest bidder on the project.
There will be no presentation at the event; rather, participants can drop in any time.
According to public records from Washington County obtained by the Banks Post, nine companies bid for the project, with Pihl coming in at the low end with a $3.83 million bid. Another local company, Lyda Excavating, Inc, bid on the major project. Lyda Excavating recently won a county bid to stabilize the Timber Road landslide.
The project is estimated to cost $6.3 million and will be jointly funded by the county’s Major Streets Transportation Improvement Program and the city of Banks.
Construction is expected to begin this month, and finish in May 2026.
The Banks Fire District is located at 13430 NW Main Street.
Find out more about the project at a Washington County webpage dedicated to project updates.
Chas Hundley is the editor of the Banks Post and sister news publications the Gales Creek Journal and the Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.
