Turnarounds Will Ease Traffic At Adams

Thu., July 30, 1998

Amy Scribner Staff writer

Efforts to ease the traffic crunch around Adams Elementary are under way.

The Spokane District 81 school at 37th and Regal will get a new parking lot and turnarounds designed to make dropping students off a little less hairy.

“It’ll make the site a lot safer,” said district Planning Director Ned Hammond. “Parking plus buses plus traffic just doesn’t work.”

Adams shares busy 37th Avenue with Ferris High School, making it a less than ideal place for dropping off students.

The new parking lot will be on the northwest corner of the site and will accommodate about 35 or 40 cars, Hammond said. The playground equipment it displaces will be relocated, possibly to the southwest corner, he said.

The turnarounds will be on 36th Avenue.

The project comes as part of a $74.5 million bond passed by voters in February. About $5 million was set aside for site improvement projects, including work at Adams.

Part of the money was earmarked for plans to expand the Adams campus eastward.

The school sits on less than four acres, making it among the district’s smallest.

The district hasn’t bought the necessary lot, where a house stands.

“We’re still exploring that,” said Hammond. “Right now, it does not appear it’s going to happen right away.”

Hammond said staff and community feedback indicate traffic is a higher priority than increasing campus size.

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