Highway Construction Delayed

Thu., Nov. 5, 1998

By Kevin Blocker kevinb@spokesman.com

The completion of a North Side highway construction project has been pushed back a month, and part of an existing highway will stay in place.

A traffic light at Deer Park-Milan Road and Highway 2 was scheduled to be installed at the beginning of this month.

But that project has now been pushed back to the end of November, according to the state’s Department of Transportation.

Project engineers discovered the intersection sits above a gas line, so Washington Water Power crews were called in to reroute the line, according to Alaina Cunningham, public health educator for the Spokane Regional Health District.

Brian Walsh of the DOT said the project will cost approximately $200,000.

Cunningham, also the coordinator of North Spokane County’s “Y-Zone” Project, said the DOT plans to expand highway 395 to four lanes from Hastings Road to Mile Post 172.

A planned interchange is also scheduled to be built at Hatch Road.

Construction is scheduled to begin in May next year and last for two years, Cunningham said.

“People should already start planning alternate routes or leaving early,” Cunningham said.

That project is expected to cost $7.4 million, according to the DOT.

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