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Trail project raises questions
What creative grant writing did city engineering services employ to receive a 2.5 million-dollar grant from the Federal Highway Transportation Department for Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality improvement to construct 0.9 mile of the Centennial Trail on historic residential streets in the West Central Neighborhood?
How can they pledge a $418,000 match from dedicated arterial street funds to build a bicycle facility? Why would they remove the only sidewalk on Summit Boulevard, which violates the Spokane Municipal Code? Or narrow a neighborhood arterial that serves the #21 bus, neighborhood traffic and emergency response vehicles from the Indiana Fire Station?
Why choose a route that includes 19 utility poles and three bus stops plus 18 driveway curb cuts and passes through the front yards of 5 homes on Mission Avenue? Or plan a trail that necessitates removing trees, constructing retaining walls and putting up fencing where the existing bluff property is too narrow?
Why wasn’t the plan presented to the neighborhood until November 21st with the construction date moved up from 2022 to Feb. 1, 2020? Were the members of the Friends of the Centennial Trail made aware of these complex considerations?
Sue Etter
Spokane