Dangerous Intersection Worries Chattaroy Residents Hillside Cuts Off Sight For Drivers Pulling Onto Milan-Elk

Ginger Clark and her neighbors have a special formula for exiting their road safely: Stop at the bottom of the hill. Look left for oncoming cars. Count to seven. Look right, then go.

The counting is necessary because of a large protrusion that cuts off the line of sight for motorists exiting Waldrons Lane onto Milan-Elk Road in Chattaroy.

“It’s a nightmare,” Clark said.

“So many times I pull out (onto Milan-Elk) and it takes my breath away,” added neighbor Dawn LeBlanc.

Neighbors say the road also needs a culvert. Every winter, great portions of the steep and unpaved Waldrons Lane - a private road - wash down onto Elk-Milan - a county road. Some of the runoff water rolls into the small side ditches as it comes down the hill, but when it reaches the bottom, it has no where to go.

Neighbors have seen cars speeding along the 45-mph Milan-Elk Road, hit the icy runoff and go careening over the side of the road into a ditch.

Since Clark moved into her home two years ago, she has called and sent several letters to Spokane County engineers, trying to get something done about the dangerous intersection. She was told Spokane County has no responsibility to make improvements to private road intersections.

But last week, Assistant County Engineer Ross Kelley said a culvert for Waldrons Lane is scheduled to be constructed in the county’s right-of-way in two or three weeks.

“I think there was some confusion about what needed to be done out there and who’s to blame,” Kelley said. “But in order to protect the county road, we decided we’ll take care of it.”

He admitted, however, a certain frustration with private roads.

“They are a problem for us throughout the county,” Kelley said. “They are usually installed by someone not familiar with county standards.”

Still, there remains the issue of the protrusion, created by the side of a small hill along the roadside.

Because the Milan-Elk-Waldrons Lane intersection is also a bus stop, and Waldrons Lane is home to 15 children, neighbors are particularly concerned.

“It’s an awfully dangerous intersection for such a big bus stop,” Clark said as a dozen kids spilled out of a bus on a recent afternoon. “A lot of (local) teens are about to start driving,” she added. “I’d hate for one to die because the county was too lazy to fix it.”

But Kelley said the county has no plans for the protrusion.

“It’s not that bad for people driving the speed limit,” he said. “We can only design our roads for the speed limit, and encourage people to drive safely.”