Wall-To-Wall Cars Foreseen Traffic Engineers Compare Impact Of Wal-Mart Complex To Northtown

A huge Wal-Mart complex proposed north of the Division Street Y would draw as many shoppers as NorthTown Mall, locking parts of north Spokane in bumper-to-bumper traffic, traffic engineers predict.

They expect more than 2,400 cars a day to use the shopping center, projected to be twice as big as the Spokane Arena. Those estimates are based on a preliminary review of the developer’s traffic surveys.

To handle the traffic explosion, developers would have to spend millions of dollars on road improvements - changing the face of North Side traffic.

“This is about another NorthTown; it’ll have that much impact,” said Leonard Cash, a state traffic engineer.

Even with the improvements, congestion at one intersection would near gridlock, causing unsafe air pollution levels, Cash said.

Details of the plan, proposed by Colorado-based developer CLC Associates, are sketchy. Wal-Mart would anchor the complex with a 130,000-square-foot store, but tenants of six other buildings in the 40-acre complex have not been announced.

A second 130,000-square-foot building is slated for another discount retailer. At least one fast-food restaurant would be included.

The development has already stirred protest in the small neighborhoods that surround the land - rolling hills dotted by trees - on three sides.

A neighborhood group, planning to hire a lawyer, is circulating a petition that has been signed by about 850 residents.

About 140 residents gathered Tuesday night in the gymnasium at Farwell Elementary to vent their concerns.

“If you have to have a monster, let’s get one that’s not quite so nasty,” said Jane McGowen, whose kitchen window overlooks the site.

Residents north and south of the property worry their streets will turn into thoroughfares between U.S. Highway 395 and Wal-Mart.

“Already the traffic is enough,” said Karen Barniol, a mother of two who is organizing neighborhood opposition to the project. “You add all this Wal-Mart traffic and this will be become a disaster area.”

Kathleen Krager, a CLC Associates engineer, declined to comment. The developer is scheduled to talk publicly about the plans at an Aug. 27 neighborhood meeting, Krager said.

Spokane County Commissioner Phil Harris welcomes the project.

“I think it’s a good thing,” he said. “It would bring improved roads and more jobs to Spokane.”

Traffic concerns mounted after state, county and city engineers reviewed CLC’s preliminary plans and sent Krager a three-page list of questions.

To appease the engineers, CLC will probably have to build right-turn lanes on each side of the highway and install a traffic light at the Nevada Street intersection.

CLC’s proposed traffic changes worry neighboring businesses.

Walter Knopp, a taxidermy shop owner on the east side of highway, said the right-turn lane would hurt his business.

“Mr. Knopp and other affected owners nearby feel that they will be severely damaged … due to the additional traffic it will generate on the Newport Highway,” said Knopp’s lawyer, John O’Connor, in a letter to the county.

Other improvements to Hawthorne, Hastings, Holland, Farwell and Country Homes may be suggested, according to traffic engineers.

“We are waiting for more numbers from the developer …, but I’m concerned,” said Bud Volkoun, head of the city traffic department.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Map of proposed site of new Wal-Mart