Council OKs street improvement plan
A six-year Spokane street plan for the years 2007 through 2012 includes 13 new projects scattered across the city.
The plan was approved by the City Council on Monday.
The plan has a price of $96 million, with most of the funding expected to come from state and federal grants through gasoline tax collections.
The largest project at $10 million is a new interchange proposed for U.S. Highway 195 at Cheney-Spokane Road. It would be part of an extensive upgrade of that highway corridor through the Latah Creek Valley.
The next largest project is a $5.2 million construction of Riverside Drive to connect Riverside Avenue at Division Street with East Trent Avenue on a route along the south bank of the Spokane River.
Once Riverside Drive is finished, the city plans to redesign Spokane Falls Boulevard in the downtown area to make it friendlier for pedestrians, a project expected to cost $760,000.
Elsewhere, the plan calls for improvements to Havana Street between Trent and Mission avenues to allow it to carry more traffic after a new bridge is built over railroad tracks north of the Spokane County Fair and Expo Center. That project is slated to cost $1.25 million.
Three neighborhood improvement projects are planned to revitalize aging commercial areas.
They are South Perry Street near Ninth Avenue, $500,000; the Hillyard business district, $532,000; and West Broadway Avenue improvements west of Ash Street, $331,000.
Other projects on the list are intersection improvements at Wellesley Avenue and Belt Street, $345,000; Mission and South Riverton, $34,000; and Division and Wellesley, $1.4 million. Also, the plan calls for studies of repairs to the Latah Creek Bridge in west Spokane and traffic circulation in the downtown and developing University District areas.
A pedestrian pathway is slated for the Hazel’s Creek drainage area between Regal Street and Ferris High School athletic fields at $145,000.
Council President Joe Shogan asked for an update on a previously planned widening of Five Mile Road between Austin and Lincoln roads.
Katherine Miller of the city’s engineering services staff said that more than 80 percent of the design work has been completed and that most of the needed right of way has been secured.
The project is awaiting a federal grant, which could come during the next funding cycle, she said.
In other business, the council approved an emergency ordinance that prevents smaller lot development in five neighborhoods along the city’s boundaries. Lots there will have a minimum size of 7,200 square feet on an interim basis for nine months.
The city Plan Commission has been asked to analyze the appropriate lot sizes for the five neighborhoods to come up with a permanent regulation.
The neighborhoods include Southgate, Five Mile Prairie, North Indian Trail, Grandview/Thorpe and Latah/Hangman Valley.
Councilwoman Mary Verner said the lot-size restriction will prevent additional growth pressure on neighborhoods that still do not have adequate public facilities, including streets, to handle more residents.
Other city neighborhoods are allowed lot sizes as small at 2,500 square feet in duplex zones under the city’s newly revised zoning code that takes effect this week.