Expert Proposes Train To Valley Light-Rail System Would Help Traffic

A national expert hired to solve Spokane’s transportation problems suggests building a train to carry commuters downtown from Valley suburbs.

Gary Molyneaux says the system could include 16 miles of track, several stations and frequent train service between Liberty Lake and downtown Spokane.

The track would follow the former route of the Milwaukee Road, land the county has bought for a sixlane arterial.

A two-mile circle of track downtown would stop at various hotels, government buildings and stores.

Train speed would be anywhere from 10 mph downtown to 55 mph on open stretches of track.

The light-rail system could be built for $450 million or less, Molyneaux said. That’s far less than it would cost to build a freeway with similar capacity, he said.

The proposal is part of the 300-page “High Capacity Transportation System Plan” Molyneaux wrote for the Spokane Regional Council.

The state-funded report, which is required if Spokane County wants to continue qualifying for federal transportation grants, also suggests special lanes for car-poolers on Interstate 90 and other arterials.

Copies of the report are available in Spokane city and county libraries, said Glenn Miles, the council’s executive director.

The council plans public hearings on Molyneaux’s proposals next month.

Light-rail is not a new idea.

The Inland Electric Railway operated trains from Spokane to Coeur d’Alene, with stops at Liberty Lake, from 1902 until 1939. At its peak, the line carried as many as 14,000 vacationers a day.

That line and others throughout the nation were shut down as Americans became accustomed to the freedom of automobiles, Molyneaux said. Car and tire manufacturers lobbied Congress to spend more money on highways and less on rail.

A Spokane businessman proposed a privately run commuter train to Liberty Lake in 1982. And various proposals for public trains have come and gone.

In 1985, the state Department of Transportation determined Spokane County’s population was too small and spread over too large an area to make light-rail pay. By 2010, the study said, a commuter train still would have only about 610 riders each hour, about two-thirds fewer than needed to make the system break even.

But the county is growing much faster than expected in 1985, said Molyneaux, who helped design a light-rail system for Portland and is former director of the system in Fairfax County, Va. He predicts a train from the Valley would have 970 riders per hour in 2010 and nearly 1,100 by 2020.

The train could be operating in 10 years if planning began today and financing could be found, said Molyneaux, who thinks House Speaker Tom Foley could be key to getting federal money for the project.

Spokane shouldn’t build the system unless it’s serious about curbing urban sprawl, the consultant said. Instead of houses built on big yards scattered throughout the county, planning officials should encourage developers to build town houses, apartment complexes and houses on small lots near the proposed train route, he said.

“It has to be higher density” than the three houses per acre that now are typical in many Spokane neighborhoods, he said.

And instead of separating retail, residential and other land uses, the county should encourage developers to mix those uses so they’re convenient for mass transit riders, he said.

Molyneaux cited The Summit as an example of good planning. Metropolitan Mortgage plans to build the community of houses, townhouses, stores and offices on the north bank of the Spokane River, where residents could easily walk or ride the bus to jobs downtown or at the county court house.

Molyneaux predicts the train would draw development to itself.

Developers in Oregon have spent more than $900 million building along the Metro Area Express tracks since the train started running between downtown Portland and the suburb of Gresham in 1989, said Molyneaux. The $328 million system carries 24,000 to 28,000 riders a day, far more than predicted.

Molyneaux, whose office is in Seattle, said when he started his Spokane study two years ago there was little interest in light-rail. Since then, in meetings with politicians, business leaders, planners and others, “people have become interested,” he said.

Still, some local officials say they doubt the project will be built any time soon.

“From my standpoint, we’re right on the (population) margin of what’s feasible or not feasible,” said Miles, the Spokane Regional Council executive director.

“We’re not going to get one of those in our lifetime,” said county Commissioner Steve Hasson. “Quite frankly, I want to see a north-south freeway before I see light transit.”