Rerouting Traffic Should Help Ease Congestion At ‘Y’

Some drivers headed to the busiest intersection in Spokane will be rerouted starting Thursday.

Traffic engineers plan to close the short eastbound section of Country Homes Boulevard that links Division Street and the Newport Highway about a block north of the North Division “Y.”

Westbound lanes will remain open.

Only a handful of drivers uses the eastbound lane, engineers said. But they cause inordinate problems, sometimes getting stranded on Division by red lights. The “Y,” which is congested anyway, becomes a parking lot when that happens.

The change will make “a dramatic improvement” in both traffic and air pollution, said traffic engineer Don Ramsey.

With the change, drivers traveling east on Country Homes Boulevard must turn either right or left when they reach Division.

Drivers who want to reach the Newport Highway from the boulevard will have to turn left onto Division, then right on Holland Road. The change will add traffic to Holland Road but shouldn’t overload it, Ramsey said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Traffic revision at the ‘Y’