Thor St. at 11th closes tonight until Friday

Drivers in southeast Spokane may run into traffic jams for the next two days trying to get on and off the South Hill along the Ray and Freya street corridors. A major water main project is forcing closure of Thor Street at 11th Avenue starting late this evening through Friday afternoon, city officials said. They hope to have Thor, which connects with Ray, reopened by the afternoon commute on Friday. During the closure, traffic will be forced to funnel on and off the South Hill on Freya Street, a two-lane arterial served by a three-way stop sign at Freya and Hartson. Drivers headed west toward downtown might consider diverting along 17th or 29th avenues to Southeast Boulevard. Other potential routes off the South Hill are Grand Boulevard or Bernard Street. For access to and from Interstate 90, Glenrose and Carnahan roads to the east, by way of Eighth Avenue and Havana Street, may provide another option. The stop sign at Freya and Hartson frequently backs up during peak commute hours without any closures, and is likely to see longer backups with the temporary closure of the busier Thor-Ray corridor for nearly two days. The closure is due to a $3.5 million water main project that started in July and is expected to continue into December from Sherman Street east to Havana Street. During the work, streets around the project have been closed. Closures of other streets including Freya are expected as work moves eastward.