Bigelow shortcut just might get longer

Orchard Prairie is the type of place where some people move to get away from it all on a few dozen rural acres.

Audrey Weeks and her family have enjoyed their relative peace and quiet there for 38 years. But just down the hill from her home, it’s a different world. Drivers zoom by on Bigelow Gulch as a quick shortcut between the North Side of Spokane and Spokane Valley.

Spokane County is working on a plan to widen the two-lane road, plus a section of Forker Road in Spokane Valley, to four lanes by 2010. The stretch extends from Havana on the west to Sullivan and Wellesley on the east.

It will cost about $40 million, about two-thirds funded by state and federal grants, said Spokane County Program Development Engineer Bill Hemmings.

Work could begin as soon as this fall.

The route now shaves about 10-15 minutes off what would be an average 24-29 minute trip if drivers used Spokane city streets and Interstate 90 or Trent to get from Sullivan and Forker to Bigelow Gulch and Francis.

Use will only grow in a few years when the North Spokane Corridor is completed from Highway 395 to Francis, funneling vehicles right onto Bigelow Gulch.

Almost 18,000 vehicles a day drive on Bigelow Gulch now, and 26,500 daily trips are expected by 2025.

The Bigelow Gulch project, to be done over the next five years, will improve both capacity and safety, said Hemmings.

But neighbors like Weeks worry a wider Bigelow Gulch will mean more noise, increased difficulty getting out of driveways and a killing field for prairie wildlife.

“So many are hit now,” said Weeks of the deer populating the area.

The project can’t be stopped at this point, Weeks said – “It’s been in the wind a long time” – but she hopes the county will listen to neighborhood concerns to lighten the impact on the community.

In addition to rural areas, the widening project may also affect some schools on its eastern portion, including East Valley Middle School.

Spokane County is hosting two open houses this week on the project. The first is Wednesday at the Central Grange Hall, 7001 E. Bigelow Gulch Road. The second is Thursday at East Valley Middle School, 4920 N. Progress Road. Both are from 4 to 7 p.m.

Oops! She did it

Britney Spears caused an uproar last week when she drove with her baby son on her lap instead of in a car seat.

She said she was trying to escape paparazzi. OK … still not a good excuse.

We’ll just use it as another opportunity for a safety lesson, right in time for Child Passenger Safety Awareness Week.

So … baby, one more time, here is the rule: Babies and children up to age 6 in Idaho and Washington are required by law to be restrained in proper safety seats in the back seat of vehicles.

Super trooper

Better put that seat belt on. Washington State Patrol Trooper Morgan Mehaffey is on the job, and he’ll bust you if you aren’t buckled up.

Mehaffey, a Spokane area trooper, won an award last week from the Washington Traffic Safety Commission for all the seat belt tickets he wrote in 2005 – about 560.

He said he gives them out about 99 percent of the time he pulls someone over for not buckling up.

You would, too, if you’d seen what he’s seen.

“If there’s one thing that’s affected me, it’s a collision I saw in Bremerton when I worked there,” Mehaffey explained.

A 22-year-old woman was killed when she was thrown from her car in a rollover accident.

It was near Christmas and wrapped presents littered the roadway. The driver’s compartment of the car was in pretty good shape, Mehaffey said.

“I knew that if she had been wearing her seat belt, she would have lived. Instead she was dead.”

Beacons of information

New traffic beacons on the Newport Highway are warning drivers about upcoming red lights.

The beacon displays the message “Be Prepared to Stop When Flashing” when the traffic lights at Farwell Road are about to change from green to yellow to red.

The Washington State Department of Transportation installed the warning beacons to help prevent rear-end accidents at the intersection.

Slow going

Avista will be removing trees today on 29th Avenue between Southeast Boulevard and Grand. Eastbound traffic will be reduced to one lane.

Tree work will also continue this week on Freya between Hartson and 29th. Prepare for delays.

Crestline is reduced to one lane between Francis and Lincoln for tree removal to prep for an upcoming widening project.

WSDOT crews this week will be installing fiber optic cable off I-90 between Medical Lake and Highway 195, which may cause shoulder closures. The cable will allow the installation of five new traffic cameras later this year.

McClellan is reduced to one lane between Seventh and Eighth.