Added Traffic Expected From New Apartments

A massive new apartment complex along Lincoln Road will add perhaps 800 cars to the afternoon rush on various roads north of Francis Avenue, according to a transportation planner.

Determining the impact of those vehicles on specific intersections is the purpose of an analysis requested by the city of Spokane and undertaken by developer Rich Naccarato, owner of Cedar Builders.

Naccarato is proposing 130 duplexes and 882 apartments on 80 acres north of Francis between Crestline and Nevada.

He has hired Inland Pacific Engineering to handle the analysis. Inland Pacific traffic planner Ann Winkler held a meeting last week with neighbors at Shiloh Hills Elementary.

Neighbors said the analysis should include traffic counts during both morning and evening commutes. One wondered whether the existing four-way stop at Standard and Lincoln Road would still be adequate.

Winkler said more than a dozen intersections will be analyzed to determine the effect of the project on safety and operations.

Though no one knows what those impacts will be, “I’m not going to say its zero, it’s going to be quite a bit of traffic,” Winkler said.

Six intersections along Nevada will be studied. Three each on Crestline and Division will be looked at, along with two on Market.

The transportation study is the first step in the project, which still needs approval of the city hearing examiner.

Construction, which could begin next summer, will be gradual, and the 912 units may take 10 years to complete.

Because the land is now zoned for apartments and the area has the highest concentration of apartments in the city, no one challenged the plan outright.

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