North-South Freeway: Going Nowhere Fast No Action Expected On Latest Route Proposal

The proposal to build a north-south freeway through Spokane was already 5 years old when Dale Stedman went to work for the Inland Automobile Association in 1951.

Stedman spent much of his 43-year career championing the freeway that would ease congestion on Division Street and other arterials.

Now a year into his retirement, Stedman still works on the proposal, as a member of a state advisory committee. North-south roads through Spokane are busier than ever, as more people choose to live, work or play in north Spokane and rural areas on either side of the Spokane-Pend Oreille county line.

But the massive project, which has been studied several times and once was affirmed by public vote, appears no closer to construction than when traffic planners first suggested it in 1946.

“Each time a study was done and shelved … we literally had to start over again,” said Stedman. “The parameters had changed. You had to rethink the process.”

The newest study, a $3 million, 400-page environmental impact statement, will be released next week after three years of work. In it, the state Department of Transportation recommends a 10-mile freeway following one of two routes along the east edge of Spokane. Some 600 houses lie in the path of either route, which would link Interstate 90 with U.S. Highway 395 near the Wandermere bridge.

The project that would have cost $13 million in 1956 now is expected to cost $2.1 billion and take 20 years to build. It would be the most expensive road project ever tackled in Washington.

The state has no money set aside for the freeway and would have to impose steep increases in the gasoline tax to pay even a portion of the cost.

Congress - which once looked favorably on the project - recently cut the federal budget for highways.

“The rules have changed and we shouldn’t approach this (new study) with any expectations,” said Linda Tompkins, a Spokane attorney and member of the state transportation commission.

Nevertheless, Tompkins said, “I remain optimistic.”

She and other supporters are studying the possibility of designating the freeway a portion of U.S. Highway 395. That could make it easier - though still not easy - to get federal money.

Stedman laments that the freeway wasn’t built years ago.

“You can see what happens to things when they’re postponed,” he said.

In 1956, after years of studies, the state was ready to build near the Hamilton-Nevada corridor. The project died when East Central residents complained it would split their neighborhood.

The proposal came to life again in 1967, when the state increased the gasoline tax and funded a $400,000 study that again recommended the Hamilton-Nevada route.

About 600 people showed up for an eight-hour hearing in the Spokane Coliseum in 1970, with most speakers opposing the route. Still, 58 percent of Spokane voters approved the freeway in a 1973 advisory vote.

By 1974, with no construction money and continued strong opposition, state planners shelved the project. There was a weak attempt in 1987 to raise the gasoline tax to pay for the freeway, and a tax increase in 1991 paid for the current study. Otherwise, state officials have not talked seriously about paying for the road for two decades.

State Transportation Secretary Duane Berentson tried to put the matter to rest in 1985, saying it was “highly unlikely” the project would be started by the turn of the century and urging Spokane residents to look for other ways to ease traffic.

The Spokane City Council wrote back that the city was not giving up, signing the letter during a meeting that also featured an actor singing “The Impossible Dream” to promote a production of “Man of La Mancha.”

The freeway has remained a priority with Spokane commuters. Surveys in 1983, 1986 and 1987 showed more than 80 percent of respondents listed it as either important or very important. They wanted the freeway more than they wanted an arena, incinerator or any other public project.

By 1985, supporters conceded there was little chance the freeway would be built in the Hamilton-Nevada corridor. That’s why the current study suggests it follow either Havana or Market streets.

Either of the proposed routes “has better support” than those discussed in the past, said project manager Herold White. “It’s still affecting some of the residential neighborhoods significantly, especially the East Central neighborhood and the Hillyard neighborhood.”

A Hillyard group called Protect Our Neighborhood Integrity has met repeatedly with state planners since 1991, helping locate a route with the fewest houses. Member Mary Gaddy says the group probably won’t fight the freeway, as long as the state follows that path.

“Do we want a freeway? No. Are we going to throw ourselves in front of the bulldozer? No,” Gaddy said.

White said the state would begin work at the northern end of the route, where there are few homes. It would buy houses and land as crews work south.

“It’d give the homeowners a chance to adapt,” he said.

Building the freeway would bring profound changes to the North Side, as well as other areas of the county. Families who might settle in the Valley for easy commuting could consider the North Side, as well. Stores and other businesses would settle along the new road. Canadians could reach downtown faster and South Hill residents could shave time off the drive to Priest Lake.

Stedman predicts Sacheen Lake, in southern Pend Oreille County, would be a Spokane suburb, as Liberty Lake is today.

Gary Fergen, who recently left the Spokane County Planning Department to become Pend Oreille County’s planning director, isn’t sure the suburbs would sprawl that far north. But, he concedes, many areas that now are rural would be subdivided.

“Wherever roads go … development has a tendency to follow,” Fergen said.

If the freeway isn’t built, if Spokane continues growing and if people continue driving cars instead of taking buses, there’s little hope of avoiding gridlock, White said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Proposed freeway

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: For more information Copies of the state’s draft environmental impact statement should be available at libraries by Friday. Those who wish their own copy of the 400-page report should call the Transportation Department at 324-6000. State officials plan a public hearing, tentatively scheduled for Sept. 28 at Shadle Park High School. They hope to have a final draft of the study written this winter. It then would go to the state Transportation Commission for approval. Finally, state officials would write a proposed funding package to submit to the Federal Highway Administration. No federal money would be available without congressional approval. Likewise, the Legislature would have to approve any state spending on the freeway.