South Hill Arterials In Bond Plan

Sammy Henderson feels the pain of Spokane’s pockmarked streets every day she drives to her volunteer job.

The bad pavement on many South Hill streets jolts her just like it does thousands of other drivers.

“It’s too rough out there,” she said. “It jerks your car all around.”

City leaders say they have an answer to the sorry state of Spokane’s streets. They are asking for a $37.3 million bond issue to be repaid through property taxes over the next seven years.

Voters will decide the issue on the primary election ballot Sept. 17. The cost to the average homeowner would be about $100 a year.

Henderson, who answers the telephone and takes reports at the COPS Southeast police station at 29th and Regal, said taxes are a fact of life.

“Our taxes are going to go up, so maybe we should get something for them,” she said.

Not everyone is so eager to pay more, even though some city streets are a veritable moonscape.

“You talk to people around here, and people feel they’ve paying too much now in taxes,” said Joseph Harrington, an insurance agent whose office is a couple doors down from the COPS station.

He agrees the roads need fixing, but he wonders where all the existing tax money goes.

City officials said the property tax bond issue is the only alternative left in their tax arsenal. Voters turned down a small countywide gasoline tax increase two years ago. The possibility of adding street repair charges to city utility bills was overturned by the courts.

Over the years, the city has relied on a combination of state gasoline taxes and property tax collections to pay for maintenance. But the city’s ongoing share of the state gas tax has not increased substantially in the past 10 years. One reason is that cars get better mileage now.

Thus, even though total miles driven may have increased, along with the wear on roads, fuel tax revenues to the city have not increased.

Also, the city has shifted more funds into street sweeping to comply with clean-air requirements.

A property tax bond from the late 1980s was spent several years ago, and now the city is returning to the voters to ask for a newer, larger bond issue.

The proposed bond would pay for resurfacing nearly 50 miles of streets citywide, including 46 miles of arterials. Of the arterials listed for repaving, 20.5 miles are on the South Hill and its lower approach streets.

Among them are Ray Street south of Ferris High School, one of the roughest sections of roadway in the area. Grand Boulevard, a rutted, rocky road, also is on the list for repair.

High Drive on both sides of 29th Avenue needs work.

Regal Street south of 29th Avenue is on the list. Bernard from 12th to 21st also is proposed for repair. Several sections of 29th Avenue are on the list.

Of arterials citywide, only 31 percent are considered to be in “good” condition. Another 38 percent need minor repair, and the remaining 31 percent need major work.

Phil Williams, manager of city engineering, said resurfacing streets now will be less costly than waiting another 10 to 20 years and letting the pavement get so bad that the streets will have to be excavated and relaid with a new gravel base.

“What we are trying to do is catch many of the streets now before it gets too expensive,” Williams said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Map of area

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Planned improvements Here is a list of arterials on the South Hill and its approaches that would be resurfaced or rehabilitated under the city street bond proposal: Ray from 14th to 37th. Thor-Freya from Sprague to Eighth. Grand Boulevard from McClellan to 29th. High Drive from 25th to 30th. Cedar from 12th to 21st. 29th Avenue from Tekoa to Pittsburg, from Regal to Ray, and from Rebecca to Havana. Regal from 29th to 44th. Division and Browne from Fourth to Seventh. Perry from 29th to 34th. Monroe from Fifth to Seventh. High Drive from 37th to Lamonte. 37th from Browne to Perry, and from Regal to Havana. 17th from Southeast Boulevard to Ray. Freya from Hartson to 29th. Crestline from 37th to 53rd. Thurston from Regal to Perry. 14th from Lincoln to Jefferson.