City’s long-term plan for improvements

Sometimes wonder if the road work will ever end? Don’t hold your breath.

The city of Spokane Valley keeps a long-term plan for street improvements. That so-called Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) forecasts projects for the next six years and is updated annually.

The City Council will hold a public hearing at its 6 p.m. meeting Tuesday at City Hall, 11707 E. Sprague Ave., before considering approval of the 2005-2010 plan.

The biggest change proposed to the TIP this year involves one of the city’s chief controversies: the Sprague-Appleway couplet. The city’s staff is suggesting extending Appleway Boulevard two miles east from University Road, where it ends now. The new plan suggests beginning the work in 2006, two years sooner than scheduled in the current plan.

Most of the projects on the proposed TIP are expected to be funded by a combination of federal, state and city money. The funds for a few projects already are in place, but much of the work depends upon future approval of funds.

“This is a very dynamic document that changes depending on funding and a number of things beyond our control,” Mayor Mike DeVleming said.

In addition to the couplet, the proposed plan also includes:

• Barker Road. Barker would be widened in three phases: from Boone Avenue to the bridge over the Spokane River, from the river to Euclid Avenue, and from Eighth Avenue to Broadway Avenue. Cost: $6.8 million. Time frame: 2005-09.

• Barker Road Bridge. The Barker Road Bridge over the Spokane River would be rebuilt and widened. Development in the area has increased traffic over the bridge. Cost: $8.1 million. Time frame: 2005-08.

• Pines/Mansfield project. The city wants to reduce congestion on Pines Road at Mansfield Avenue. Traffic signals there would be moved, and access to Montgomery Avenue would be closed, turning that street into a cul-de-sac. Cost: $3.8 million. Time frame: 2005-07.

• Appleway Boulevard. This project would rebuild Appleway as a five-lane road with curbs and sidewalks from Tschirley Road to Hodges Road. Cost: $3.2 million. Time frame: 2005-07.

• Eighth Avenue. Eighth would be widened to three lanes between Havana Street and Park Road. Curbs, gutters, sidewalks and bike lanes also would be added. Cost: $4.8 million. Time frame: 2005-07.

• Sullivan Road extension. Sullivan would be extended from Wellesley Avenue to the northern city limit. Cost: $4 million. Time frame: 2005-08.

• Evergreen Road. Evergreen would be reconstructed as a three-lane road between 16th and 32nd avenues. Cost: $2.5 million. Time frame: 2006-08.

• Sullivan Road west bridge. The west bridge that carries Sullivan over the Spokane River would be rebuilt. It would be widened to accommodate traffic turning west onto Indiana Avenue. Cost: $8 million. Time frame: 2005-08.

• Flora Road. This project would reconstruct Flora as a three-lane road from Sprague Avenue to Mission Avenue. Cost: $2.5 million. Timeframe: 2007-09.

• Bowdish Road. Bowdish would be widened to three lanes, with curbs and sidewalks, between Eighth and 32nd avenues. Cost: $3 million. Time frame: 2008-10.

• Park Road. Park would be rebuilt, with curbs and sidewalks, between Broadway and Indiana avenues. Cost: $1.3 million. Time frame: 2009-10.

• 32nd Avenue. 32nd would be reconstructed, with curbs and sidewalks, from State Route 27 to Best Road. Cost: $800,000. Time frame: 2009-10.

• Ferret Avenue. This project involves connecting Ferret Avenue in Ponderosa to Dishman-Mica Road. Cost: $710,000. Time frame: 2010.

• Euclid Avenue/Flora Road. This project proposes rebuilding Euclid from Flora to Barker and rebuilding a short stretch of Flora. Cost: $600,000. Time frame: 2009-10.

• Sullivan Road. Sullivan would be widened to seven lanes from Euclid to Wellesley. The bridges that carry Sullivan over the Spokane River, two sets of railroad tracks and Trent Avenue also would be widened. Cost: $4.7 million. Time frame: 2010.

• The city’s staff is recommending delaying until 2006 the Park Road grade-separation project, which would build a bridge to take vehicle traffic over the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Co. tracks at Trent Avenue.

That work is part of the huge, $270 million Bridging the Valley project, an effort to reduce the number of at-grade railroad and vehicle roadway crossings between Spokane Valley and Athol, Idaho. Bridging the Valley hinges on congressional reauthorization of the federal transportation spending bill. As funds are approved, individual pieces of the project will be scheduled, said senior engineer Steve Worley.

“The funding for Bridging the Valley is still up in the air,” he said.