SUMMERTIME DRIVING
Spokane Valley drivers soon will be dodging large projects at Pines, Sullivan and east Appleway as the road construction season gets rolling this summer.
The Interstate 90 overpass at Sullivan Road will be closed for three weeks, and Pines Road will be under construction for six months as freeway ramps are reconfigured and a light is added at Mansfield Avenue.
The Pines/Mansfield project was held over from last year’s construction schedule.
“It’s taken us a little longer to get the design and the right of way acquisition,” said Spokane Valley Senior Engineer Steve Worley.
Traffic eventually will run more smoothly through the area, which presently features four stoplights, a railroad crossing and an increasingly busy unsignalized intersection at Mansfield where an apartment complex was built last year.
When it’s done, westbound traffic leaving the freeway will be routed directly to Indiana, eliminating one of the traffic lights.
In the meantime, the 17,700 cars that travel that stretch of Pines each day will navigate a series of lane closures and detours.
On Sullivan, crews will replace a weakened section of asphalt with cement, closing the overpass in the process.
“It’s going to be tough for three weeks, but at least we won’t be out there all summer,” said Washington Department of Transportation spokesman Al Gilson.
Westbound ramps, the light at Mission Avenue and businesses along Sullivan will remain open, but cross-freeway traffic will be detoured to Evergreen Road and Broadway Avenue, Gilson said.
Near the eastern bounds of the city, a crumbling stretch of Appleway Avenue will be completely replaced with a five-lane road. During construction, it will be open to local traffic only.
Nearby, the Barker Bridge over the Spokane River is slated to be replaced, but work was delayed until next year, in part because the city only recently hired the staff to manage the bridge reconstruction in addition to other city projects, Worley said.
The bridge that carries the southbound lanes of Sullivan over the river also is on the list to be replaced in the next few years.
Projects
“2007 Spokane Valley road projects include:
Appleway Boulevard
What: new five-lane road with sidewalks, bike lanes and a new intersection at Barker
When: June-October
Where: Tschirley Road to Hodges Road
Detours: Local traffic only on Appleway
Cost (excludes money spent in previous years): $5.9 million; city share, $685,000
Pines/Mansfield
What: Reconfigured I-90 ramps, Mansfield widened to three lanes, light at Mansfield
When: June-November
Where: Pines from I-90 to Mansfield
Detours: local traffic only on Mansfield; lane closures on Pines, Montgomery and freeway ramps
Cost: $3.4 million; city share, $14,000
Sullivan Road
What: New cement surface
When: Three weeks following Fourth of July weekend
Where: Sullivan at I-90
Detours: Sullivan will be closed completely, with traffic routed to Evergreen and Broadway
Cost: $3 million; city share, $450,000
“2007 Spokane County Sewer Projects in Spokane Valley:
What: sewer installation as part of Spokane County’s ongoing septic tank elimination program
When: Ongoing
Where: Trentwood, Spalding’s, Veradale Heights and Grandview Acres areas
Detours: Vary, check www.spokanecounty.org/engineer/pub/news.htm for updates
Cost: $11.5 million; city share, $1.1 million to fully repave the streets