Homes Being Cleared Out For I-90 Ramp Expansion

Demolition and house-moving crews are busy clearing homes from a seven-block section of Third Avenue in the Spokane Valley to make way for a road project.

In all, 30 homes will be razed or moved from the stretch of Third between Fancher and Havana as part of a plan to reconstruct the interchange at Interstate 90 and Sprague Avenue.

Many of the houses, which are in various stages of being moved or demolished, are visible on the north side of I-90 just west of the Sprague interchange.

The transportation department spent nearly $1.5 million in federal money to buy the homes on Third and relocate the residents, said Al Gilson, a DOT spokesman.

Two of the homes were sold to Inland Empire Residential Resources, an organization that buys houses, remodels them and then sells them with special financing to lowincome families.

DOT officials hope to have all the homes cleared out by July 1, Gilson said.

The department has spent additional money buying property near the interchange on the south side of I-90, including the nowdefunct East Sprague Drive-In.

Work to clear out homes in that area, including trailers in the Valley Breeze Mobile Home Park, has been on-going since 1992.

Despite all the work, construction of the new interchange could still be years away, Gilson said.

“The design is being polished up to go on the shelf awaiting construction funds,” he said.

When that money will be available is up to the state Legislature, he said.

DOT engineers envision the project as a way to make the interchange safer by widening the onoff ramps and making them longer and less steep.