Whether it was the prodding of the pandemic and recession that spurred them to such heights, or the ongoing climate crisis, it doesn’t really matter.What’s important is the details: Over the next 16 years, more than $500 million would go toward bike projects. More than $2.6 billion in transit funding. Nearly $300 million for Safe Routes to School grants, and $60 million in Complete Streets grants.

Transportation is the nation’s largest source of greenhouse gases, and accounts for 31% of net U.S. emissions. Thanks to Americans driving 15% fewer miles, and jet fuel use falling by a third, transportation emissions decreased by 15% in 2020.

Beginning this month, Spokane’s Historic Preservation Office is holding a series of virtual workshops to discuss a project to protect the architectural history of the neighborhood and celebrate its specific connection to streetcars.

The city expects to complete maintenance projects on about 60 miles of arterial roads in 2020 and 2021, about double what it had initially planned.

BNSF has lots of tools at its disposal to keep trains moving when the snow starts to pile up. If trains can't travel, that means not only are raw materials blocked from reaching their destinations, but also Christmas gifts. 

When the city of Spokane shutters the brief span over Latah Creek in the spring to repair it, drivers will lose a vital connection from Highway 195 to the South Hill and will instead be directed to drive north on High Drive, get on Interstate 90 at Maple Street and head west before circling back down 195 to get where they are going.

A report from a libertarian think tank placed Washington's highway system at 45th in the country for cost-effectiveness and condition. All the more reason to invest now in road projects, said Sen. Andy Billig, which can also help stimulate the economy during the pandemic. 

A single-point urban interchange, or SPUI (rhymes with "chewy"), opened Tuesday at U.S. 95 and Highway 53 in Kootenai County on Tuesday. It's the first such interchange in North Idaho and is a sign of traffic control to come, planners say. 

The federal ruling is likely to face further scrutiny as the Joe Biden administration assumes office in Washington, D.C. 

Traffic in and around the Lilac City hasn’t just increased sharply since a precipitous drop immediately after Inslee announced a stay-home order in March, it’s also up from 2019, when – assuming you can remember such a halcyon time – there was no pandemic.

Amtrak’s Empire Builder had been picking up and dropping off passengers every day in Spokane since 1997. That changed on Oct. 19, when the train that plies a 2,200-mile route from Chicago to Seattle and Portland switched to a three-days-a-week schedule.

A recent study identified nearly $19 million work of additional work – including constructing new roundabouts at the road’s intersections with Sprague, 4th and 8th avenues and widening the street to five lanes from Mission Avenue to the south city limits – that should be completed by 2040 to keep up with projected growth.

Researchers have found that permitting cyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs increases the flow of traffic and actually protects both motorists and those on bicycles. The law went into effect this month in Washington.

Planners have dreams of connecting the upper South Hill with the downtown trail that currently terminates near Underhill Park. Just how to do that is a puzzle transportation experts will have to figure out. 

Spokane Valley traffic engineers are eying a pair of projects intended to reduce traffic congestion at at-grade rail crossings: one where Barker Road meets Trent and Wellesley avenues, and a second at the intersection of Trent and Pines Road. 

The Spokane City Council agreed to a plan to reduce traffic speeds near certain parks and park properties in town. That decision has caused some South Hill residents to question the inclusion of High Drive.

Roger Hernandez is still cranking at the Shacktown bike shop downtown, even after thieves made off with $3,000 in bikes, tools and other equipment last week. 

How does the transportation department jibe massive investments in new road projects, like the North Spokane Corridor, while worrying about crumbling existing infrastructure, like the replacement of the East Trent bridge?  

The Spokane International Airport has seen a steep decline in passenger activity as the coronavirus pandemic hammers the nation’s airline industry. But that's not stopping the airport from moving forward with a long-awaited plan to realign the road drivers use to drop off and pick up passengers.