Narrow Street Residents Protest Sta’s Proposal For Buses On 24th Avenue Between Bernard And Howard

Residents along the 400 block of West 24th Avenue say they’re none too pleased with some of the Spokane Transit Authority’s planned route changes.

It’s not that the new bus stops will be too far away, a common complaint STA officials are hearing these days.

The problem, they say, is the stops will be right out the front door.

STA is in the middle of a major route overhaul that combines and eliminates some bus lines and creates others. The revamped bus routes are slated to take effect next summer.

Among the changes is a plan to merge current routes 34 and 35 into route 37, which would serve all of the Cannon Hill area.

The route would zigzag south along parts of Adams, Lincoln, Bernard and Grand Boulevard before looping around between Thurston and 37th and heading back downtown.

It would include a brief interlude on 24th Avenue between Howard and Bernard. It’s a stretch of street lined with parked cars, children at play and - now - upset neighbors.

“Did they actually drive this road?” asked Christy Harshbarger, who lives in the middle of the block with husband Dean and their two elementary-age children.

“I think if they did, they’d see a bus driver isn’t going to want to navigate this portion of it.”

“The morning I found out it was going to happen, I was out there with my measuring tape,” said Shelly O’Brien, who has lived on the street for a year. She has a 4-year-old son and says the idea of a bus route on the street is frightening.

“There are days when I can barely get through with my car,” she said. “The street’s not an appropriate stop for a bus. Add children to the pudding, and you’ve got a disaster waiting to happen.”

Residents say 30 children live and play along the street. In addition, adjoining houses share driveways, leading many to park their cars on the street rather than block in their neighbor.

At just 23 feet and 10 inches wide, the car-lined road is too narrow and busy to accommodate twice-hourly bus service, residents say.

The concerns may be valid, said Connie Peterson-Brady, an STA transit planner.

Brady said that while many of STA’s routes are along streets where children live, the skinny 400 block of West 24th Avenue just might be too tight of a squeeze.

“We are looking at alternatives,” she said. “It really is narrow and is probably a safety issue.

“I would say at this point, it is a change you will probably see happen.”

The plan to use 24th Avenue was intended to increase efficiency, said Jarrett Walker of Nelson Nygaard Consulting Associates, the Oregon-based firm that designed the proposed routes for STA.

“Route 37 needed to be pretty much right down the center of the south area between Grand and the bluff,” he said. “And we wanted to cover a piece of Lincoln and Bernard. We drove all the routes many times, but it’s understandable when residents have this perspective. I’m sure it does seem narrow.”

Walker said that, based on the feedback from residents, the route may change to run along 24th Avenue only until Howard, where the bus will head south.

Planners are also considering running the bus along 25th Avenue, a much wider street that currently accommodates route 34.

But final route change decisions are left to STA’s board of directors, which will begin firming up plans after a public hearing later this month.

Aside from the 24th Avenue situation, the South Hill hasn’t been a real hot spot in terms of complaints, said Brady. Just 13 people attended a Sept. 9 meeting at the South Hill Library to discuss the proposed changes, where she said most were concerned with increased walking distances to bus stops.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: A CHANCE TO SPEAK UP A public hearing to discuss proposed STA route changes is scheduled for 4 p.m. Oct. 22 at the Lewis and Clark High School auditorium.