County To Drivers: Let Them Eat Exhaust

Chances are the 316 incoming tenants at the Ridgeview Estates aren’t going to appreciate waiting 10 minutes to get off the freeway any more than the thousands of Spokane Valley residents who currently sit idle at the busy Pines Road off-ramp.

But they’ll have to get used to it, because traffic is only to get worse as county officials approve more development without regard to its impact on citizens’ ability to get around on city and county roads.

The Ridgeview Estates case is a particularly egregious example. Already, more than 37,000 cars travel through the Pines-Mission intersection every day; 54 accidents were reported there in the last five years. It’s the most dangerous intersection regulated by the state in Eastern Washington.

The planned Ridgeview Estates, going in near McDonald and Mission (a road that also runs in front of Valley Memorial Hospital) will add up to 2,200 vehicle trips a day. That equals more congestion, more delays, and almost certainly more accidents.

Of course, it also means more money in fees and taxes to the county, which is why huge developments are attractive. But it’s an unfair burden on people who have already chosen to live in the area and are finding the infrastructure inadequate.

Short-sighted decision making seems to be the culprit. Officials seem aware that more development brings more traffic - as county hearing examiner Mike Schrader acknowledged when he voted for the Ridgeview apartments, saying “All those drivers will be cussing me out while they’re waiting to get on Pines.” But Schrader, and others, don’t take the logical first step, which is making sure commuters have adequate and safe roads before approving projects that add even more traffic.

Anyone who travels those roads - and that’s just about everyone who lives in or visits the Valley - knows that Pines and its feeder streets are not meant to be heavy-traffic throughways. And work promised by the state and county has yet to materialize.

So drivers will look for new routes, like rats in a maze trying to find the quickest way out. Those short cuts will take them speeding through subdivisions, through neighborhoods. And the Valley doesn’t have the law enforcement to patrol those streets.

That brings the onus back to county planners. Too bad they’re too busy rubber stamping to look for real solutions.

, DataTimes