“The first of many!” was the refrain Monday morning on Boalch Avenue, where North Bend city officials gathered to cut the ribbon on a re-constructed road.

Boalch Avenue, closed for the last several weeks while Lakeridge Paving crews tore down and rebuilt the road, was the first road construction project to be funded by the city’s new Transportation Benefit District sales tax increase of 0.2 percent.

“This is the first of many projects that will be funded by the Transportation Benefit District, thanks to our citizens,” said Mayor Ken Hearing before the ribbon-cutting. “This is their tax dollars at work!”

Now complete, the $414,000 Boalch reconstruction will give drivers a seamless transition between the North Bend and Snoqualmie city lines. Snoqualmie completed an overlay of its stretch of Boalch several years ago, making the potholes on the North Bend stretch stand out even more.

Public Works Director Ron Garrow said drivers may not even notice that the lanes on the North Bend side of the road have been widened, at first, because the road is so smooth now.

The second TBD-funded project in the city is already underway, the reconstruction of Pickett Avenue. Garrow estimated that the work should be completed by the first week of November.