Bigelow Gulch Options Weighed

Possible solutions to traffic woes on Bigelow Gulch Road ranged from the simple to the grand at a Thursday meeting.

The only consensus was that something must be done to improve safety on one of Spokane County’s busiest and most dangerous roads.

“The goal is to make Bigelow a safe place to drive,” said Ross Kelley, assistant county engineer.

More than 100 people crammed into the Central Grange to tell county engineers how to do it.

Engineers estimate that more than 13,000 cars per day zip along the two-lane road, which was designed to handle about half that much traffic.

They guess that number will increase to 20,800 per day in the next 15 years.

The high volume and high speeds - the limit is 45 mph but many people drive 60 or faster - have contributed to more than 175 wrecks on Bigelow Gulch since 1991.

That has frustrated people who live along the road, commuters who use it to get between the Valley and the North Side, law enforcement officials and traffic engineers.

That frustration was apparent during Thursday’s meeting, which at times turned contentious.

Some called for simply reducing the speed limit from 45 to 35 mph.

Don Hamilton said the speed limit should be reduced and police patrols beefed up. He accused county engineers of being insensitive to the needs of the community by proposing several plans to widen and realign Bigelow Gulch Road to reduce some curves.

“This is the scenic route, not the freeway,” said an animated Hamilton, who received both cheers and jeers from the audience after an impassioned speech. “This should not be screwed with.”

County Engineer Bill Johns said lowering the speed limit wasn’t a viable option. People would still speed, Johns said.

“I can put up a sign that says 15 mph,” he said. “But if people can do it (speed), they’re going to do it.”

Others said a wider road with fewer curves was the answer.

“Signs put in no margin of safety,” said one man, who added that the area around Bigelow Gulch Road isn’t the quiet, rural haven it used to be. “We aren’t going to go back in time.”

Still others, including county planning commissioner Frank Yuse, said the real solution is a beltway road that would run all the way around the urbanized area.

There is such a proposal under consideration now, said Jim Haines of the engineer’s office, but the cost is prohibitive. Haines estimated such a project would cost upwards of $250 million.

County engineers have their own plans.

They unveiled four different proposals Thursday that call for widening Bigelow Gulch and reducing some of the curves. The proposals range in price from $9.4 million to $10.2 million. Copies are available from the engineer’s office.

Haines called the proposals “very, very preliminary.”

Current plans don’t call for construction until the year 2020, if it happens at all, he said. Money for road projects is hard to find right now.

, DataTimes