Vocal Point: Seven years later, couplet still doesn’t make sense

I’m in the mood for a little road repair.

First, let’s improve some Sprague intersections. How about double-turn lanes on both roads at each major intersection? The Sprague-Pines intersection is way overdue for this. At heavily used intersections, install long turn lanes. The double-turn lane on Sprague at Sullivan is already too short and the whole intersection needs them.

My main peeve, though, is the Sprague-Appleway couplet.

Several Roundtable writers have favored keeping it as is.

But I think it’s a mess.

I understand those who like it for commuting; driving west from University is a breeze, unless you need to zigzag to businesses from one side to the other. And heading east on Appleway is even smoother. So I respect that point of view.

However, as a destination shopper, I avoid driving the ugly, congested and often dangerous Sprague as much as possible. It’s rare that I make an impulse stop simply because I see a business or sign. So no businesses have lost my dollars because of the couplet.

But business owners have a legitimate complaint, as many people are impulse shoppers or likely to stop for a quick fast-food meal or items on the way home. And Sprague businesses are hurting, having lost visibility for those eastbound on Appleway.

The city council has been reviewing options on the couplet, especially in regard to a planned city center at U-City. Last winter, an urban-design consultant recommended making both streets two-way to be most effective for everyone. The council indicated its support and wanted to add more landscaping and trees on both streets (hooray!). But the issue is still being debated and the four city council candidates running in the upcoming election have divergent views.

I hope to see the one-way couplet undone in the future.

Does anyone enjoy the unnerving Triangle of Doom entry/departure point of the couplet? Going west in the left lanes, I’ve almost ended up on I-90 more times than I can count. Squeezing into the right lanes to avoid my car’s grill kissing the overpass bridge has assured me of my excellent adrenaline levels.

What about negotiating the Appleway-Sprague loop the loop, driving around blocks until you feel dizzy, give up and just go home? I almost threw in the towel trying to find an auto dealer service department. And once you’ve turned from Appleway to Sprague to go west, if your destination is immediately on Sprague’s north side, you may end up playing dodgeball with weapons of mass destruction – i.e., two Hummers and six SUVs – to cross over. Who dreamed up this unsafe mess?

And pity the poor pedestrian crossing the Mississippi-wide Sprague. I’d be afraid to try.

The thought of extending the one-way couplet farther east has my eyes rolling so fast, you’d think I was a slot machine about to dispense a windfall.

Try exiting to go east on Sprague from Rosauers at U-City. Yikes! Now, just imagine this all along Sprague to the east, which is jammed with stores and businesses. I don’t see entering and exiting these establishments as a picnic. Picture drivers weaving briskly and dangerously from side to side, sailing across multiple lanes as they go down Sprague to destinations along the way (to avoid Appleway looping). At least auto-repair shops and chiropractors should expect a happy increase in business.

After seven years, drivers are still going the wrong way on westbound Sprague from University. Recently, Richard and I saw a poor, frantic soul barreling east toward us in front of the Mustard Seed.

Do we want all these problems east of University?

Let’s make all of Sprague two-way with center-turn and bicycle lanes. Change Appleway to a two-way higher-speed arterial for commuters, with center and bicycle lanes. Keep it clean and swift with no commercial development. If high-density housing is planned for Appleway, use feeder streets only for entry onto the road.

This would bring easy access to destinations along Sprague for shoppers and a free-flowing arterial for commuters.

Just because the County decided we needed a one-way couplet in 2000 doesn’t mean it’s right for Spokane Valley, now or in the future.

A couplet without rhyme or reason simply doesn’t make sense.