County Combing Its Coffers For Evergreen Interchange Funds

Spokane County is tugging on purse strings, hoping that an extra $2.2 million can be found for the planned Interstate 90 interchange at Evergreen Road.

“We’re trying to poke any bag to see if any money will fall out,” said Dennis Scott, county Public Works director.

That includes asking state lawmakers to appropriate $6.2 million for the project this legislative session, rather than the $4 million previously requested.

The request for the additional $2.2 million comes after the Washington State Department of Transportation revealed its proposal for a seven-lane Evergreen Road bridge that would span 10 freeway lanes. The bigger bridge increased the total cost of the project to $23.4 million.

The interchange project will be paid for jointly by the state, the county, and Hanson Industries, Spokane Valley Mall developer JP Realty and Inland Empire Paper Co., an affiliate of Cowles Publishing Co., which owns The Spokesman-Review.

County officials say if the state wants to build such a big bridge it should kick in more than the $4 million it’s seeking from the Legislature.

County Commissioner Kate McCaslin said she has been in contact with legislators weekly during the session.

“I want an equitable solution to get this darn thing built,” McCaslin said.

Spokane Valley legislators say they are lobbying hard for the additional funds.

Sen. Bob McCaslin, R-Spokane Valley, said he can’t predict whether the Legislature will approve the full $6.2 million, but he said he has been talking to Senate Majority Leader Dan McDonald, R-Bellevue, along with Sen. Jim West, R-Spokane, and Sen. Eugene Prince, R-Thornton, who’s chair of the Senate Transportation Committee.

“I’ve been pursuing them like a pit bull,” he said. “I want to see it come to fruition. I don’t know why $2 million should hold it up.”

Rep. Mark Sterk, R-Spokane Valley, said he’s doing the same thing.

He’s recommending to Karen Schmidt, head of the House Transportation Committee, that the Legislature tack on the additional $2.2 million.

However, the state Transportation Department is not asking the Legislature for any funding beyond the $4 million proposed for the Evergreen interchange project, said Jerry Lenzi, regional DOT administrator.

“We worked hard last year to raise funding from zero to $2 to $4 million,” he said.

If the DOT asks for more funding for the $23.4 million interchange, that might put other Eastern Washington projects needing funding at risk, he said.

The bridge was designed to span 10 freeway lanes so that carpool lanes could eventually be added to I-90, he said.

County officials are not putting all their hope in one place.

Other options include asking such Valley businesses as Kaiser Aluminum, Wal-Mart and those in the Spokane Business and Industrial Park, also impacted by traffic congestion in the area, if they would be willing to contribute to the project, said Scott.

The county can’t make them pay, however. “If they do that, they would have to do it out of the goodness of their heart,” Scott said.

Other solutions the county is pondering include:

Late-comer fees. The county would ask any developers generating traffic near the interchange to pay a fee when they take out a building permit.

Floating a bond issue. The county could float a bond, paid by real estate excise taxes.

The project is important to developers because currently the county has put a moratorium on all large-scale projects in the area near the mall. It won’t be lifted until the interchange is built.

Developers have verbally pledged a total of $7.1 million toward the project, Scott said, but no checks have been signed.

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