I-90 Widening Up To State Legislature, Says Dot Official

Thu., Dec. 21, 2000

By Trinity Hartman trinityh@spokesman.com

This legislative session will determine whether the state Department of Transportation will continue widening Interstate 90 in the near future.

Jerry Lenzi, the DOT regional administrator, talked to Valley Chamber of Commerce members Tuesday about funded and unfunded projects planned for the Spokane Valley in 2001.

The DOT would like to make Interstate 90 six lanes wide - three in each direction - out to Sullivan Road. The project, which hasn’t been funded, would cost nearly $30 million, Lenzi said.

Several projects do have the funding needed to start or complete construction next year.

The DOT expects the Evergreen interchange to fully open in the spring. The northern half of the interchange, which connects I-90 to the Spokane Valley Mall, opened just before Thanksgiving.

Work stopped on the southern part of the interchange, which will hook it up to Mission Avenue and Evergreen Road and provide access from Sprague Avenue, because of winter weather.

The Sprague Avenue interchange should be finished by fall of 2001, Lenzi said.

The on-going project will widen I-90 to six lanes at Sprague and build new on- and off-ramps.

The state DOT will also partner with Spokane County to build two loop ramp entrances to I-90 next year. One will go in at Sullivan Road and the other at Harvard Road.

Currently, north-bound traffic on Sullivan and Harvard has to make a left turn to go toward Spokane on I-90.

That makes traffic back up, said Lenzi.

“Basically there are a lot of unhappy people sitting there,” said Lenzi.

The ramps will allow north-bound traffic to make a right turn to loop onto the freeway headed west.

Also, the DOT will start work on Trent Avenue in the spring.

The state has resolved all right-of-way issues on Trent. That $8.5 million project will add a center turn lane to Trent between Fancher and Sullivan roads. It will also add sidewalks to the north side of Trent between Fancher and McDonald roads.

The work on Trent should be finished by the end of 2001, Lenzi said.

Frank Tombari, chair of the chamber’s transportation committee, said he will lobby the legislature to fund projects in the Spokane area.

“In the short term, we have to say that we have a system here that needs to get funded and built,” Tombari said.

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