On Dec. 18, 1956, The Spokesman-Review wrote about a proposed north-south “limited access freeway.” Estimated cost: $13 million. President Dwight D. Eisenhower was championing an interstate system that connected the nation, but the article noted that the federal government would shoulder only 50 percent of the cost of the north-south freeway.

The next day, the newspaper listed the properties that would be sliced in two by the proposed freeway, including a college dormitory and a church. The north-south freeway controversy was born.

If you grew up in Spokane, moved away decades ago, and are visiting here this holiday week, you might not know that the north-south freeway is now called the North Spokane Corridor. It’s still not built, but construction has begun. Anticipated cost now: $3.3 billion. And it’s still needed.

“We don’t want to be Seattle,” explains Dale Stedman, a member of the Washington State Transportation Commission who has been tracking this freeway issue since the 1950s. “Spokane is in the enviable position of getting it done before the demands are greater. The longer we wait, the greater the problem, and the greater the cost to correct it.”

The freeway/corridor is still controversial. Recently, Gov. Chris Gregoire said locals will have to pony up the money to finish the project. The state can’t do it alone, and federal money has pretty much dried up. “We’re on our own,” Gregoire said. “So how do we start thinking outside the box?”

Some of the brainstorms so far: Forcing trucks off city streets and charging them to use the corridor. Vehicle license increases, local-option gas taxes and impact fees. Or even a public-private partnership in which the state would lease the corridor to a private company that would make money through tolls.

It cannot take another 51 years to finish the corridor that is vital to both congestion prevention and economic trade with Canada. Spokane has thought outside the box before. We hosted a world’s fair before anyone beyond Spokane could pronounce the city’s name correctly. A freeway isn’t a fair, but it could be just as important to the future of Spokane. So let’s think outside the gridlock in 2008 and get this north-south connector closer to reality.