Freeway To Split Neighbors North Alignment Picked, Sparing Kaiser Property

While his neighbors are vacationing, Mead resident Larry Rees is taking care of their plants.

These days his neighborliness requires a short jaunt down the block. But in a couple of years, Rees may have to catapult a freeway to reach their porch.

Rees learned Thursday that the state Department of Transportation plans to split his neighborhood with the northernmost stretch of the North Spokane Freeway.

After months of contentious debate, the department earlier this week chose the most northerly of three proposed freeway routes between Hawthorne Road and U.S. Highway 395.

Rees found the decision disheartening but not terribly surprising.

“I’m kind of discouraged,” he said, adding he doubts department engineers seriously considered other routes after debuting the northerly one earlier this year.

DOT Project Engineer Keith Martin said that wasn’t the case.

“We studied all three from equal environmental standards. It wasn’t just an exercise,” Martin said. “We want to do the right thing for the community.”

Engineers chose the northerly route for several reasons, including that it would cost less and take fewer homes and businesses than the other two, Martin said.

“The north, on its own merits, rose to the top,” Martin said. “It was the best overall alternative.”

State lawmakers recently allotted $25 million over the next two years for early work on the North Spokane Freeway, which eventually will provide a faster route for U.S. Highway 395 between Interstate 90 and north Spokane.

In January, DOT engineers unveiled the northerly route, saying they preferred it over the long-established route seen in environmental documents and on maps.

At the time, Garden City and Shady Slope residents were shocked to learn the freeway planned for a half-mile south of them might move into their back yards.

Some residents blame DOT’s route reversal on pressure from Kaiser Aluminium.

The original route proposed for the freeway cut a wide path through the aluminum manufacturer’s land at Farwell and U.S. Highway 2, while the latest path grazes a corner.

“The only reason they’re doing this is because Kaiser doesn’t want (the freeway) to go through their property,” said Maxine Materne, who will lose at least an acre of her 6-acre Garden City property.

DOT documents show numerous conversations and correspondence between Kaiser and DOT officials since the early 1990s, with Kaiser repeatedly arguing against the original route.

Kaiser spokeswoman Susan Ashe said Thursday that while DOT’s recently chosen route still affects a portion of the company’s property, “it was the route we preferred.”

She wouldn’t comment further, saying she needs to read DOT’s decision document.

In the past, Ashe has said Kaiser’s opposition to the original route stems from the fact the land is needed as a buffer between its Mead plant and encroaching developments.

Someday, it may be needed for expansion.

Martin said Thursday that Kaiser’s influence had nothing to do with the final choice. “We’ve never considered one entity above any other,” he said. “We’ve always weighed the facts.”

Engineers began considering the northerly route last year when Martin took over as lead engineer.

His review of development patterns lead him to look at changing the freeway’s path, he said.

In January, the DOT debuted the new northerly route, calling it the “preferred” alternative.

In March, a 21-member committee composed of DOT planners and engineers, affected homeowners and a Mead school official, compared two routes - a modified version of the original route and the northerly route.

The committee chose the northerly one.

Further study caused Martin to question that decision. He decided to do a new comparison that included the two routes plus the original route.

In the end, the north alternative remained the clear winner, Martin said.

Officials estimate it will displace 18 homes and four businesses, but they aren’t listing those addresses until more design work is done.

The decision spares two churches. The chosen route is farther from school buildings and play fields.

It’s less expensive and poses less threat to the aquifer, Martin said.

Garden City residents like Materne take little comfort in the DOT’s reasoning.

She and her husband moved to their 6-acre property 40 years ago, when there was only one other home in the neighborhood.

They built a brick home on one end of the property. They planned to sell off a few acres after they retired.

“We moved out here for privacy,” she said with a laugh.

Now, with the couple in their mid-70s, their plans to divide the land are squashed by the proposed freeway, Materne said. “Who’s going to want a freeway in their back yard?”

Graphic: Proposed North Spokane Freeway route

These 2 sidebars appeared with the story:

1. FREEWAY Open house The state Department of Transportation plans to hold an open house on the freeway project June 30 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Mead Middle School, 12509 N. Market.

2. WHAT’S NEXT Schedule Here’s the state Department of Transportation’s tentative schedule for the North Spokane Freeway: This summer: Supplemental environmental studies done on selected route. Fall 1999: DOT holds design-access hearings. January 2000: DOT may begin buying property. 2001: Construction scheduled to begin.