Argonne Bridge Reconstruction Has Valley Fire Officials Worried

Sat., Feb. 6, 1999

By Angie Gaddy angieg@spokesman.com

Spokane Valley fire officials worry the traffic headaches on Argonne Road could lead to more serious problems once construction begins on the Argonne Road bridge spanning the Spokane River.

County engineers will begin a two-year reconstruction of part of the aging bridge in May 2000.

The bridge, which is actually two separate structures, will have its 79-year-old west side reconstructed.

That means traffic will be narrowed from its current four lanes to two during the construction. And that means more traffic congestion could lead to slower response times, fire officials say.

Fire Chief Pat Humphries and fire commissioners are asking Spokane County officials to restrict all trucks carrying hazardous materials on the Argonne corridor during the bridge construction.

“If we did have an accident, we couldn’t get there,” Humphries said.

He worries that trucks hauling gasoline or other flammable materials could pose a risk when traffic backs up during construction.

Humphries said he is speaking with county emergency managers about the Fire Department’s concerns.

If the Valley Fire Department has a concerns those trucks would be a risk to the public, the emergency planning commission would support the request, said Dave Byrnes, deputy director of Spokane’s county-city department of emergency management.

Eventually it will be something county commissioners will have to decide, he said.

Valley fire commissioners agreed it’s an easy step to take to limit potential problems.

“That would be a major disaster area the way it’s set,” Commissioner Tom Gregory said about the current road problems at a Tuesday board meeting.

Since the railroad underpass at Argonne and Trent was completed more than two years ago, traffic through Millwood has increased from about 24,000 cars a day to more than 30,000 a day, county engineers estimate.

The Union Pacific railroad line at Argonne and Euclid also worries fire officials. Long trains have backed up rush-hour traffic, sometimes all the way to Interstate 90.

Officials from Valley Fire and District 9 are hammering out a mutual aid agreement that would require stations in both areas to respond to emergencies north of Millwood during the bridge construction, said Valley Fire’s Humphries.

“We don’t want to leave it to chance on who gets there first,” he said.

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