Construction was finally scheduled to begin this week on an interchange project at the junction of I-5 and I-205 in Salmon Creek.
Coffman Excavation was recently awarded a $1.2 million contract to grade the site for a C-TRAN Park & Ride lot. Construction on the site is set to begin this week, with final completion expected before October – though the earliest C-TRAN will relocate to the site will be summer or fall 2011.
The project as a whole is expected to cost $133 million, making it one of Clark County's biggest public works projects in nearly 20 years, according to the Clark County Public Works Dept. Funding for the project comes from federal, state, and local sources, including $84.3 million from the nickel gas tax package enacted by the state legislature in 2003.
Also slated for construction are road improvements on either side of the interchange, freeway ramp improvements and redesign of 134th and 139th streets in the rapid growth area surrounding Washington State University Vancouver.
Vancouver Culinary School shows its BBQ prowess
The Northwest Culinary Institute of Vancouver took two out of the top three places at the Inaugural Best Barbecue Competition in Portland's Oaks Park.
The event was staged by The Chefs de Cuisine Society of Oregon with the Oregon Beef Council providing beef proteins and the trophy for the winners.
The first place team consisted of Amber Brown, Loree Morris and Jerry Miller, while the third place team was represented by Kevin Basarab, Mike Horn, Will Evans and Kathleen Walser, with a team from Le Cordon Bleu of Portland taking the second place slot.
The Northwest Culinary Institute is a division of the International Air and Hospitality Academy of Vancouver.
Papa Murphy's continues to grow
Papa Murphy's International, Inc. outpaced all other pizza chains, earning a spot as one of the fastest-growing restaurant franchises in the U.S. according to the 37th Annual Nation's Restaurant News Top 100 census report.
Papa Murphy's also attained the greatest growth in system-wide sales in the pizza category for 2009 in the same survey.
"Papa Murphy's is an attractive option because we have one of the lowest investment levels of any pizza chain," said John Barr, Papa Murphy's CEO.
A Franchise Business Review study also determined that the take-and-bake chain was among the highest-rated in franchise owner satisfaction.
