The So-Called Gap

In the West Central neighborhood of Spokane, the city intends to extend the Centennial Trail along our streets.The Neighborhood Council was never notified, and the community didn’t find out until it was too late - the city is proceeding in a mendacious and covert manner with their poorly conceived plan.

Safety is the paramount concern, as users will have to cross traffic emerging from 14 driveways, and it’s the main thoroughfare for STA from the West Central Community Center, and buses run both directions every 15 minutes. It’s a main arterial and it’s used heavily by emergency vehicles and runners, pedestrians, bus patrons, dog walkers, wheelchairs, children, etc. A 15-foot swath of shared-use asphalt alongside a busy street will be hazardous to all.

There is a better solution — a plan which has been under consideration by the city for many years — to use an existing gentle trail down the hill at Boone and Summit, with a new pedestrian/bike bridge across the river, onto land owned by the city which already has existing paths and which will connect easily to the existing trail and link the community college to the neighborhoods.

Stop trashing West Central.

Laura Garrabrant

Spokane