Road diet idiotic

A North Monroe road diet? Let’s divert half of 17,000 daily drivers of to an already clogged Ash/Maple corridor or Post. Let’s subject small businesses such as Azar’s, Gerardo’s, Skipper’s, Moezy Inn, and Baskin-Robbins to further risk of closure while the ever-efficient Spokane road crews dig up the street for nine to 12 months.

Can you imagine reducing an important arterial to the South Hill, such as Grand Boulevard, to two lanes for 1.2 miles? Third or Fourth streets in Coeur d’Alene? Spokane needs to make North Monroe more efficient. It features a refurbished and centrally located icon in the Monroe Street Bridge. Moreover, the route is needed for evacuation from downtown.

When I grew up on the North Hill in the 1970s, we used to shop at the Safeway at Montgomery and Monroe (now the Extended Learning Center). An IGA stood on the southeast corner of Monroe and Northwest Boulevard. Then, Safeway moved to North Ash. People no longer stopped for groceries. Also, there are no proposed bus turnouts to prevent the ever-present stalled traffic of drivers who do not know how to switch lanes in Spokane.

The Monroe road diet is idiotic.

Mike Kraft

Spokane