Broadway traffic slower

A controversial new lane configuration is in place on Broadway Avenue in Spokane Valley, and the good news is it’s slowing down traffic.

The bad news: it’s slowing down traffic.

“Now if anybody is going slow, there’s no way to go around them,” said Rita Scanio, who runs a day care at Broadway Avenue and Adams Road.

Temporary stripes on the stretch between Sullivan and Pines now divide Broadway into two lanes with a turn lane in the middle where once drivers cruised on two lanes in each direction. When permanent stripes are placed on the road early next month, bike lanes will be added in each direction.

Houses line much of Broadway, and Scanio said traffic consolidated in fewer travel lanes now makes it even more difficult to get out of her driveway during rush hour. Many residents made the same argument before the City Council when it considered the new striping in June.

At the same time, engineers presented evidence that similar conversions elsewhere have slowed traffic, reduced accidents and carry the same number of cars just as well. A majority on the council voted to change the repaving contract to include the new striping, and over the last several days drivers have been getting used to their decision.

“I think it’s going to be better,” said Broadway resident Jim Borgmann, who lives east of Evergreen.

As for getting in the driveway, “It will make it easier with the turn lane in the middle, that’s for sure,” he said.

Earlier this week, Mayor Diana Wilhite said the phones at City Hall have been quiet lately when it comes to the project. The City Council has asked the public works project to keep track of accidents on Broadway to compare the different lane setups in the future, she said.

There’s still little consensus about the effect of the new stripes among those who live on Broadway. Traffic tends to slow where two eastbound lanes merge at Pines but runs smoothly from there. Turning left onto McDonald no longer backs up a lane of traffic thanks to the turn lane, although slower drivers often set the pace for people behind them.

If the configuration slows down traffic in the long term, it may prove to be a mixed blessing.

“It will slow the buses down,” said Monica Goodwin, a school bus driver who lives on a side street that empties onto Broadway.

But when it comes to getting her daughter to the bus stop down the street, she said the space the bike lane provides will make it safer. Previously, she said, she always walked with her daughter between her and the lawns because of the sidewalk’s proximity to traffic.

“When those cars drove by, it was close,” she said.