City May Cut Speed Limit On Some Arterials

Transportation

City Traffic Engineer Bruce Steele’s office is readying a proposal to the City Council that would reduce the speed limit on certain collector arterials from 30 to 25.

He said engineers are looking at 40 streets citywide and will recommend the reduction on streets that wind through residential neighborhoods or that have had a high number of accidents, such as Standard and Addison in the Nevada-Lidgerwood neighborhood.

“They may have an accident history or some hazard that isn’t readily apparent to the driver,” Steele said.

Traffic planners also want to increase speeds through some industrial areas, such as northeast Spokane, as a way to reduce idling and air pollution. That list, as well, would have to be approved by the City Council.

Bluegrass meeting

The developer of the Bluegrass subdivision bounded by Crestline, Bruce, Nevada and Lincoln Road has called a neighborhood meeting for 7 tonight at Arlington Elementary School, 6363 N. Smith.

Craig Condron wants to build 400 single-family homes on 100 acres of the newly annexed Calkins area. The meeting will focus on potential traffic impacts on adjacent neighborhoods.

Condron’s plan is to try to route most of the vehicles from the project north onto Lincoln Road by extending Helena Street.

All of the homes would have two-car garages. He hopes to be able to put them on the market for $105,000 to $120,000.

Construction delays

Drivers who use Day-Mount Spokane Road should expect some delays this summer.

Spokane County is spending $2 million to widen the road from Highway 2 to Bruce Road. There will be four lanes to the Pinewood Hills subdivision and eight-foot shoulders all the way to Bruce Road - a big change from the present one-foot shoulder.

County Engineer Gary Nelson said the improvements will help safety and visibility. The work will continue through October with the road open for local traffic only.

Traffic along Day-Mount Spokane Road has grown from 990 vehicles per day in 1980 to 3,500 today.

Work at North Division Y

The state Department of Transportation is in the midst of repaving and widening work around the North Division Y and along U.S. Highway 2 to Lincoln Road.

Recent vehicle counts by the DOT along Highway 2 indicate 42,000 cars at the intersection of Division and Francis, 26,000 at the Y, 16,000 at Mount Spokane State Park Drive and 16,000 at Deer Park.