Proposed Beltway Route All Wrong
The Spokane Regional Transportation Council has chosen a very poor route for its proposed beltway, one that wouldn’t help the traffic jam in northwest Spokane.
Instead, Nine Mile Road (state Highway 291) needs to be re-routed to cross the river just north of the old landfill and near the WWP electrical yard. Cut across part of the burn area of Riverside Park to connect with Government Way-Trails Road.
People who want to go out to Fairchild and Airway Heights area will take Trails Road. Those going to Fort George Wright College stay on Government Way at Sunset Boulevard. Those going to east Spokane or the Valley take the freeway. Those going down 195 go straight south.
This route will take three-fourths of the traffic from Highway 291 coming from Suncrest, Nine Mile and Seven Mile areas. With the proposed Barnes Road coming down from the Indian Trail area, this new route should take about 50 percent of their rush hour traffic. Most all this traffic now goes down Northwest Boulevard or Francis Avenue to “A,” Alberta, Maple, Ash, Monroe, Division, Nevada and Market or continues over Bigelow Gulch Road to the Valley.
One person on the transportation committee said the reason they didn’t consider the Government Way route was because of the cemeteries.
I measured the closest graves to the center of the road from each side and there is plenty of room for a viaduct between the two hills, about 0.2 mile long with four lanes plus parking lanes above and two lanes below for the cemeteries and Indian Canyon Road and the road to Peaceful Valley.
On-off ramps would be to the south of this road and north of the cemeteries and again north of Fort George Wright entrance. Frontage roads would run along the main road by Fort Wright and the gravel company to the cemeteries, where the travel will be under the main highway. This also won’t interfere with the Bloomsday Race as they will be under or on the side of the main highway, which will be kept open. Funeral processions going through Fort Wright won’t have to get onto the main road, they will just use the frontage road.
The route change for Highway 291 should be top priority and started in the immediate future.
, DataTimes MEMO: Paul Dougherty is a retired truck driver who has lived on the North Side for 41 years.