Spokane Valley gets first look at cheaper plans for the Barker Road Grade Separation – developed in 2014

Different and cheaper plans for the Barker Road Grade Separation project have surfaced at Spokane Valley City Hall where they were brought before the City Council for the first time Tuesday evening.

The council listened quietly while Deputy City Manager John Hohman explained the plans for the grade separation were developed in 2014, but not presented to the council until Tuesday.

Hohman said he didn’t know why and that the discovery had been made “over the last couple of weeks.”

Staff also discovered that city money spent on the design of the grade separation no longer will count as a match for federal grant funds.

Gloria Mantz – who was appointed temporary capital improvements program manager after former manager Steve Worley’s recent resignation – said that it’s possible the change in federal rules was made two years ago when the FAST act was updated, but it went unnoticed.

The same rules apply to the Pines Road grade separation project.

“This is something that was not brought forward before,” Hohman said.

When asked why, Hohman said he didn’t know.

A federal grant of $720,000 is earmarked to design the Barker project, but staff recently asked the City Council to allocate another $600,000 of city funds to get the project “shovel ready.”

However, the council stalled on allocating the $600,000 in a 3-3 vote at a recent meeting.

Hohman said the newly discovered plans may be as cheap as one-third of the current Barker project price tag at $36 million.

“They were not brought forward for discussion until tonight,” Hohman said.

Spokane Valley’s northeast industrial park is traversed by Barker Road and Hohman said that means an environmental permitting grant of $115,000 the city received in the fall of 2016 may be used to finalize the design of the Barker project.

One of the alternative designs would be around $10-$12 million Hohman said, and it’s possible the design of that project can be completed for the $720,000 that’s already set aside.

Hohman said the Washington state Department of Transportation is on board with that idea.

He got consensus from the council for a two-phase plan that first would refine and develop the new options and seek public input on plans, before asking the council to make a decision on the preferred design.

The second phase would complete the design without the use of more city funds.

“What we have to ask ourselves is if there’s anything that can be done to complete this project in a cheaper manner,” Hohman said.