The Walla Walla County Public Works Department is proposesg to reconstruct a portion of Foster Road in Walla Walla County. The area of potential effect (APE), defined as the footprint of construction, is a 1.15-mile stretch of Foster Road from Milepost (MP) 0.85 to MP 2.00. The width of the APE is generally 100 feet – 50 feet from the centerline along both sides of the road including the proposed alignment. Two locations will require extending the width of the Project Area. The proposed undertaking includes widening the shoulders, improving slope, road overlay, improving clear zones, and adding delineators. Ground disturbing activities will involve minor excavation for ditches and fill at culvert outlets.
Cultural resource survey of the Foster Road Improvements Project is intended to identify previously unrecorded archaeological resources and potential historic properties in the Project Area prior to planned construction activities. Pre-field research consisted of the review of known archaeological resources within a 1.0-mile radius of the Project Area as inventoried on the Washington Information System for Architectural and Archaeological Records Data (WISAARD) at the Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation (DAHP) in Olympia, Washington. This search revealed one previously recorded archaeological resource within 1.0 mile. The DAHP’s predictive model places the southern half of the Project Area (approximately 2,640 ft [804.5 m] in moderate risk for encountering cultural resources, and the remaining portion of the project in moderately low probability for encountering cultural resources.
The fieldwork was completed in a manner consistent with Washington State Senate Bill 5282 amending RCW 27.53.030, and included inspection techniques to identify both surface and subsurface archaeological resources. The pedestrian survey and subsurface investigations for the Foster Road Improvement Project resulted in no newly recorded archaeological resources during the pedestrian survey or subsurface investigations. Plateau recommends that the proposed undertaking will result in No Historic Properties Affected, and no further archaeological investigations are recommended prior to, or during, execution of this project.
Location: Walla Walla County, Washington
