Truck Ban Along Vista Considered

Two Spokane Valley traffic concerns are scheduled for public hearing Tuesday before the county commissioners.

Commissioners will consider banning commercial truck traffic for three blocks along Vista Road, between Broadway and Mission. A similar ban also is proposed along a three-block section of Mission from Vista to Marguerite Road.

If the approved, only trucks making local deliveries would be allowed on those mostly residential streets, adding them to a list of about a half-dozen countywide with similar restrictions, said Bob Brueggeman, a county traffic engineer.

“There’s at least one sharp turn in the area that trucks would have trouble moving around without disrupting traffic,” Brueggeman said.

Calls from concerned residents have trickled into engineers during recent years, Brueggeman said. Complaints about trucks using those streets to bypass busy arterials recently increased, prompting the request for the ban.

Narrow roads and children playing in the area make it a dangerous situation, Brueggeman said.

“We have seen an increase in traffic in that whole area,” he said.

In another hearing, residents will have a chance to comment on a proposed reduction in the speed limit, from 35 mph to 25 mph, along Sprague between Molter and Neland. That portion of Sprague runs between the edge of the Liberty Lake golf course and a row of houses.

Tim Kiblen, who works in the golf course pro shop and lives nearby, said the recent housing boom around the lake community and an increase in golf course traffic makes the speed reduction a good idea.

“There is a lot of people rushing home in the evenings,” he said. “I definitely think it needs to (be reduced) because it’s residential all along one side.”

, DataTimes