KITTITAS — Kittitas Mayor Steve Arington said a unique pilot program starting Tuesday to pave some city streets “is a dream come true.”

The program is a partnership between the city, which has mostly gravel residential streets, the state Transportation Improvement Board and the Operating Engineers Regional Training Facility east of town.

The state board provided a $112,644 grant and the training facility is providing free labor and heavy equipment operated by students to pave up to 3,600 feet of street. Experienced heavy-equipment operators and instructors will closely supervise the students.

Arington said the grant pays for asphalt, engineering and fuel, and the city will pay for a few incidental expenses. The Operating Engineers school will provide crushed rock for surface preparation before paving.

“The city doesn’t have the revenue to pave its existing residential streets, and this is an absolutely fabulous project,” Arington said Wednesday. “To my knowledge it’s the first time such a unique partnership in the state has been done for paving work in a city.”

If the city had to pay the full amount for the paving, it’s likely the full cost would be close to $600,000, he said.

“This project allows the city to gain some much-needed paving, the students with the heavy-equipment school get some real, hands-on, practical training and the state stretches tax dollars to get more done for the public,” he said.

The surfacing and paving will involve Second Avenue from Pierce to Mason streets, Okanogan Street from Patrick Avenue to Eighth Avenue, and two, 350-foot sections on Fifth and Seventh avenues, Arington said.

The roadways were chosen, he said, because they were in the best condition to take a new surface and maintain it for at least five years. The project is expected to be completed by mid-May and is scheduled around classes at the training center.

He said a public event to showcase the pilot program is being planned for April 29.

Streets currently paved in the city are designated as major arterials and those servicing new housing subdivisions where developers are required to pave.

Arington said there is a possibility that the city may, in the future, gain additional state funds to pave streets with the help of the training facility located off Vantage Highway.