Some Funds Expected For Freeway Planning Of Project Continues Despite I-695

The proposed North Spokane Freeway may survive deep budget cuts caused by state Initiative 695.

Despite dire predictions about the highway’s future, design and planning of the project never have stopped.

Maps of the likely route will be displayed today at an open house held by the state Department of Transportation.

The meeting comes just as some Spokane area transportation officials are cautiously optimistic that legislators may find some money in this year’s state budget for the project.

“I’m confident there will be some level of funding,” said Chris Marr, a Spokane member of the commission that oversees the Department of Transportation.

“There’s always hope,” said Keith Martin, project engineer.

Late last year, many officials declared the freeway dead at the hands of I-695, which eliminated the excise tax drivers paid to license their cars, replacing it with a $30 fee.

The resulting cuts slashed the state transportation budget by a third, eliminating the revenue set up to pay for projects such as the North Spokane Freeway.

The proposed eight-lane 10-mile freeway was designed to ease north-south traffic congestion and provide a faster route between U.S. highways 2 and 395 north of Spokane and Interstate 90. It would cost $892 million and take at least 20 years to build.

The project won’t get anywhere near the $122 million over six years that legislators had set aside for it last year, but it’s likely to get something, Marr said. “There’s tremendous pressure to provide funding for some mobility-improvement projects that politicians running for re-election can point to.”

Regardless of the freeway’s financial future, Martin said, his office will continue design work. Once that’s done, work on the project will be stopped until there’s money to buy land and start construction.

The Department of Transportation has notified 70 business owners and 165 landowners that the freeway’s most likely path between the Spokane River and Hawthorne Road runs through their property. Until recently, department officials hadn’t been ready to be too specific about whose land they planned to buy.

But no one should start packing their moving boxes any time soon, Martin said.

“We’re telling them to move forward with their lives,” he said. `We don’t want anyone waiting on us. If they need to put on a new roof or get carpeting, when we get the funding, we’ll deal with those issues then.”

Meeting An open house on the proposed North Spokane Freeway will be held today from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Northeast Community Center, 4001 N. Cook. The meeting will focus on the stretch of highway running from the Spokane River to Hawthorne Road. While state Department of Transportation officials won’t be giving a formal presentation, they will be available to answer questions.