Waste and water line installation brings utility to Seven Mile communities

With Riverside State Park in their backyard, the height of summer is an ideal time for Seven Mile residents to enjoy accessible recreation on the Spokane River. It also offers ideal weather conditions for a long-anticipated utility upgrade on Seven Mile Road.

Seven Mile Road was closed last Monday to allow for the expansion of the city of Spokane’s main sewer and water lines into Spokane County’s unincorporated Seven Mile Urban Growth Area. After the lines are connected, the project will conclude with a full-width road replacement.

A major arterial, Seven Mile Road accommodates about 5,200 vehicles per day, according to Spokane County data. The road provides handy access to the Centennial Trail and the many Seven Mile trails popular with mountain bikers and hikers.

Until the closure ends Aug. 31, Old Trails and Inland roads will serve as the official alternate route. The project shuts down one of few crossings from the west to the east side of the Spokane River. A hiker at the Seven Mile Trailhead just off the thoroughfare would need to travel about 20 minutes by car either north or south to cross the river. The route north connects residents with state Route 291 if headed back into Spokane.

Although many Seven Mile residents already take Inland and Old Trails roads to the south, Spokane County will remain on notice for traffic congestion as the project progresses.

“It’s a pretty long detour,” Spokane County Engineering Office administrator Chris Martin said, noting that the project’s scale doesn’t allow for an open lane on Seven Mile for traffic during construction.

“There are not a lot of options for detour in that area from Seven Mile east to Spokane, so we’re stuck with a really poor detour but really limited in what our options are,” Martin said.

He noted that the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office weighed in to develop an emergency fire evacuation route for Seven Mile residents.

The sewer and water lines will connect parts of the growing Seven Mile residential community with the city of Spokane’s main sewage infrastructure.

After project contractor LaRiviere, out of Rathdrum, submitted a traffic control plan, Spokane County’s traffic engineers approved it.

The city is making efforts to improve infrastructure in the area. In October 2025, the Spokane City Council agreed to reimburse a private developer $8 million for a wastewater pump station installation over an eight-year span. Funds are drawn from general facilities fees that new developments pay when they connect to existing facilities.

As the Seven Mile community expands in the coming years, the pump station will accommodate growing reliance on the city’s sewage infrastructure.

The utility project has been in the works since 2007, when the city conducted a study to confirm that a large, regional wastewater pump would more adequately serve the Seven Mile community than would smaller pump stations.

The pump station is part of Spokane’s Six-Year Comprehensive Sewer Program. The city’s Six-Year Wastewater & Stormwater Utility Program maps a project timeline from 2023 through 2028.

Serving the Sundance Meadows, Seven Mile Addition, Volkman and Nine Mile communities, the pump station will aid the transportation of sewage to the Spokane County Regional Water Reclamation Facility.

“We could just do the bare minimum of what’s going to handle the current development, or we could put the infrastructure in that, if there is future development outside of that, it could accommodate that and keep those levels of service where they need to be,” said city of Spokane Public Works Communications Manager Kirstin Davis.

Although the city of Spokane is responsible for the sewer and water lines, Spokane County governs Seven Mile Road. Approval for both the line installation and the detour required collaboration.

In recent years, similar collaborations between the city and county have occurred to improve infrastructure in developing areas outside of Spokane city limits.

In October 2024, for example, Spokane-Cheney Road was closed intermittently for a week. Improvements on sections of Hatch Road have lasted much longer, as construction began in March 2022 and is set to conclude by the end of this month.

“It happens, and especially in these more outlying areas, where … there are fewer arterials to detour to,” Davis said. “The city property is pretty maxed out in that area” by Seven Mile Road where city limits end.

While the project is under construction, people accustomed to easy and frequent access to Riverside State Park will have to take the long way around.

Washington State Parks Community Engagement Manager Rex Schultz says the inconvenience won’t deter attendance.

“The nice thing about Riverside State Park is we have so many trailheads that, you know, if access to one trailhead isn’t available or is awkward, there’s plenty of others to choose from that you’ll have good, clean access to,” he said.

Accessible by the south entrance, Schultz suggested that parkgoers check out the Riverside State Park Equestrian Area and Bowl and Pitcher Trailhead.

“There’s just so many good places to go that, you know, not having access for a few weeks on the Seven Mile Road, while it’s not optimum, it gives you a good opportunity to explore other areas,” he said.