Valley Couplet To Relieve Sprague, I-90 County Approves $16 Million Plan To Ease Traffic On East-West Routes

Spokane County commissioners Tuesday approved construction of a road designed to ease traffic on main east-west routes through the Valley.

Similar to the Ruby-Division couplet through north Spokane, the Valley couplet will run 2-1/2 miles, from University Road to a reconstructed Interstate 90 interchange at Sprague Avenue.

Under the $16 million plan, Sprague will become a one-way, westbound street with five lanes and a strip of landscaping. Eastbound traffic will follow a new four-lane arterial along the old Milwaukee Railroad right of way and some existing streets.

The state has earmarked $10 million for the project. The county must come up with the other $6 million, possibly with help from the federal government.

The couplet may eventually stretch to Liberty Lake, said county engineer Bill Johns.

The county owns the former railroad right of way, clearing the way for construction of the eastbound lanes through most of the Valley.

Some land still must be purchased for the westernmost mile of the project, a chore that could take two years or more, Johns said. If everything goes smoothly, cars could be cruising the couplet by the end of 2000, he said.

Johns said the couplet would ease traffic on Sprague and I-90, both of which are handling more cars than intended. It should also help other roads traveled by drivers trying to avoid the two passages.

Commissioners approved the couplet Tuesday without comment, a marked contrast to most meetings to discuss solutions to Valley traffic problems over the last nine years.

County engineers in 1988 proposed the “South Valley Arterial,” a limited-access, high-speed road.

Sprague business owners led the opposition to the arterial, but were joined by environmentalists and neighborhood activists.

In 1994, when then-commissioners Pat Mummey and Skip Chilberg voted to build the road, opponents filed lawsuits.

Commissioners Steve Hasson and Phil Harris, who replaced Mummey, voted in 1995 to put the project on hold. It never was revived.

Some Valley residents say the new couplet will put too many speeding cars in Valley neighborhoods and will disturb wildlife and hikers in the Dishman-Hills Natural Area.

But people who commented during a March hearing overwhelmingly supported the project.

In fact, that hearing lasted just 28 minutes.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Valley couplet