Highway 395 Expanding Four-Mile Section To Become Four Lanes

Construction is to begin this summer on a project that will give U.S. Highway 395 four lanes and a freeway-type interchange in a four-mile section north of Spokane.

The estimated $16 million to $18 million project will extend the four-lane portion of the highway 4.2 miles north from the Wandermere Bridge to milepost 172, in the vicinity of Monroe Road. Plans call for bids to be solicited in May and work to begin by midsummer.

Design work on extending the four lanes even farther north could begin about the same time if state Department of Transportation officials succeed in one of several grant applications. That five-mile section, which might take a year to design, would bring the four lanes within three miles of Deer Park - from milepost 172 to Hamilton Road.

Keith Metcalf, the department’s assistant regional development administrator, said the Wandermere-to-Monroe Road project will include a new $7 million interchange at Hatch Road. The county road will pass under the federal highway and be connected to it with on- and off-ramps.

The work on Highway 395 is expected to take two years to complete, but Metcalf said the project may extend into a third construction season because of improvements to the old Wandermere Bridge. Since construction of a new bridge on Highway 395, the old Wandermere Bridge has been part of a local road that connects the Wandermere Shopping Center with the Gleneden area.

“Before we turn it over to the county, we want to get it up to snuff,” Metcalf said.

He said plans call for repairing the deck and replacing the rails on the old bridge. The bridge work will have to wait until the Highway 395 improvements are completed because the old bridge will be used as part of an intermittent detour.

Meanwhile, the Project 395 citizen lobbying group is urging residents to “take five for 395” by calling or writing their state and federal legislators to request design money for the proposed four-lane extension to Hamilton Road.

Project 395 Director Teresa Waunch said much of the state and federal funding for the improvements so far is a direct result of citizen lobbying. She said she was in state Sen. Jim West’s office a couple of years ago when he dumped a sack of mail onto his desk to demonstrate how her group had inundated him with letters.

WHO TO CALL Waunch said support for Highway 395 improvements may be directed to the state legislative hot line at (800) 562-6000, or to: U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt, 1527 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515, (202) 225-2006; Gov. Gary Locke, Legislative Building, Olympia, WA 98504-0002, (360) 902-4111; Washington State Transportation Commission, P.O. Box 47308, Olympia, WA 98504-7308.