Traffic plan is roundly debated
The debate is going round and round.
The Washington state Department of Transportation still is planning a roundabout at Bruce Road and Mount Spokane Park Drive, and area farmers still are worried their equipment won’t make it through.
Some farmers have enlisted state Rep. Lynn Schindler to help them.
“They’re worried about the roundabout because they say it’s going to be very difficult for their farm machinery to get through the roundabout,” the Otis Orchards Republican lawmaker said.
The Transportation Department has sent engineers to measure the equipment, and they are certain it can be accommodated.
The roundabout is needed to improve safety, said department spokesman Al Gilson, who added there are 58 working roundabouts across the state.
“Research shows that these reduce collisions by up to 76 percent,” Gilson said.
Schindler said the farmers she’s talked to would prefer that the state install four-way stop signs or a traffic light instead.
“I feel that they have made the decision at the DOT and not taken into account the fact that the farmers who use the intersection the most don’t want it and don’t think it will work,” she said.
But Gilson said roundabouts are safer than those other two options.
The Department of Transportation will hold an open house at Mt. Spokane High School, 6015 E. Mount Spokane Park Drive, from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday to discuss the roundabout. It will have videos of large rigs traversing similar roundabouts and instructional videos on proper roundabout rules.
Get outta downtown
It’s official.
Trent Avenue is out. Spokane Falls Boulevard is in.
The street signs went up last week between Division Street and Hamilton Street. Once more, the average-joe-sounding Trent Avenue has been pushed out of the downtown core in favor of the more posh-sounding Spokane Falls Boulevard.
It first happened for the Expo ‘74 world’s fair, when the stretch of Trent between Monroe Street and Division Street was renamed. And now it’s happened for the road in front of the Riverpoint Higher Education Park.
Ah, Trent. We know how you feel.
Wheat field wonderland
The highways and county roads in the Palouse are some of the great drives in Washington state.
Every season, the hills glow a different color.
Now the state scenic byway there officially has grown to include several county roads.
New portions include Old U.S. Highway 195 through Rosalia, Scharpenberg and Scott roads near LaCrosse and Hume Road heading up to Steptoe Butte State Park.
The scenic byway already includes U.S. Highway 195 from Rosalia to the Idaho border and state highways 27 from Pullman through Palouse, Garfield, Oakesdale and Tekoa; 270 from Pullman to the Idaho border; 271 from Oakesdale to Rosalia; and 26 from Colfax through Dusty and LaCrosse to the Palouse River.
So get driving.
Fair warning
Don’t let your sorrow about the Gonzaga University Bulldogs’ basketball loss Saturday impair your driving judgment this week around the GU campus. The Spokane Police Department’s traffic unit plans to concentrate on driving violations near Gonzaga University for the next five days.
Mind the pedestrians in the crosswalks, keep your speed down and buckle up.
Slow going
Prepare for this list to get longer in coming months. To keep it manageable, “Getting There” will focus on new construction projects and new headaches on existing projects.
If you can start your trip to Seattle a little later, do. Blasting along Interstate 90 near the Lincoln County line will mean some closures before 7 a.m. this week.
And remember, the Evergreen Road I-90 on- and off-ramps are closed. If you want to go to the Spokane Valley Mall, you will have to use the Pines or Sullivan exits.
Repair work on the Marshall bridge will mean some daytime lane closures on the Cheney-Spokane Road.