Inland Northwest construction strike comes to tentative end, road work resumes

The monthlong labor strike halting projects across Spokane and North Idaho ended Monday morning when the workers union and contractors association reached a “tentative agreement” on a new contract.

The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 302 strike, which began Aug. 13, froze a number of construction projects run by the Washington and Idaho state transportation departments, including a piece of the North Spokane Corridor.

Associated General Contractors Executive Director Cheryl Stewart confirmed that the strike was over following contract “negotiations,” about which, she said in a follow-up message, the association is not releasing details at this time.

The negotiations are for a three-year term, Stewart said, adding that the entire agreement is tentative until voted on by the union.

Local 302 representative Doug Donley confirmed that “we’ve gone back to work.”

In an Aug. 28 interview, Ted Cummings, a previous vice president of the Washington State Labor Council and previous Union Steelworkers member, said that while he “100% supports labor,” he doesn’t understand why the union wouldn’t want the public to know what they are striking for.

Daren Konopaski, Local 302’s international vice president and business manager, did not return multiple requests for comment Tuesday.

Stewart said that as of Tuesday, the contractors association believes that there is a low chance the strike will resume.

Washington’s transportation department had three projects impacted by the strike, spokesman Ryan Overton said – a piece of the North Spokane Corridor and two paving projects.

The river crossing portion of the North Spokane Corridor could be delayed a month, pushing completion of the section into next year, Overton said. The corridor itself should still be complete in the early 2030s.

The paving projects between Babbit Road and state Route 27 along U.S. Highway 195 near Pullman and from Hafer Road up into Chewelah will now be completed in 2026, with some smaller pieces of the Chewelah project getting completed this year. Dates are still up in the air, Overton said, as the department waits for a schedule review from the contractors.

Asphalt was the main concern for the City of Spokane, said Kirstin Davis with the Public Works department, as asphalt plant workers also went on strike. Because of asphalt’s temperature-sensitive nature, it could not easily be shipped in from elsewhere. Projects involving asphalt are seasonally dependent for this reason too.

The city is working with each contractor separately, Davis said, and the Sprague portion of the grind and overlay project stretching Freya to Havana will likely be moved to next year. The chance is slim that the Maple to Walnut grind and overlay will be finished this year, but she said getting through a portion may be possible.

The watermain replacement at Francis and Assembly, and grind and overlay projects on Christmas Tree Lane, Rockwood Boulevard and Third Avenue from Stevens to Division, have also been impacted, Davis said, though details are still being sorted with contractors.

Spokeswoman Heather McDaniel said the Idaho Department of Transportation is working to assess the status of each Panhandle project individually, as the majority of the roughly 20 in-the-works state projects have been affected.

Now that crews are back, the focus is on ensuring commuter safety as the seasons begin to shift, McDaniel said. Most of the projects were already scheduled to go into next year anyway, so the projects facing delays are the ones slated to begin in 2026.

While there may be some traffic shifts, drivers shouldn’t be spending more time than they already have been with detours, McDaniel said.

“I think it’ll be important for the public to know that just because we got the green light, it probably won’t be full bore across the board,” she said, adding that workers are in high demand right now.