Who knew pavement could get people so pissy?

We do.

Last month, we wrote about a "road diet" project on North Monroe Street that would change part of the four-lane arterial to a street with two lanes, one for each direction, with a center turn lane.The conversion, which is expected two years from now and involves the stretch from Indiana to Kiernan avenues, will allow the city to create wider sidewalks, safer crosswalks, roomier parking slots and more efficient bus stops, city officials said.

The project is being paid for, in party by a $3.7 million traffic safety grant from the Washington state Department of Transportation.

Now, before you jump for joy or breathe fire, just know that your elation/outrage has been covered and chronicled in our letters to the editor, which are reproduced in full below. 

To recap, the city is run by car-haters (read: Portlanders) who are callous and have dumb ideas that are borderline lunatic and ultimately designed just to waste taxpayer money. On the other hand, narrowing a street is simply the first step to having world-class jobs and light rail and shows true courage in the face roundabout haters worldwide.

Any new thoughts can be addressed in ANOTHER letter, or in the comments. 

 

Monroe fix is dumb

Well, there’s no longer any doubt: There’s something wrong with the mentality of our elected officials and others who “lead” our city.

When and where has creating a bottleneck on a busy street been a benefit? This is one of the dumbest ideas to come out of City Hall, and there’s no lack of dumb ideas from there. Sure, let’s go from four lanes driving north and south to two lanes. That’ll work. Oh, and up a hill. Ridiculous. All it will do is push traffic into the neighborhoods and other arterials, make more drivers angry and probably cause more accidents from congestion. Better lighting, pedestrian bridges or crosswalks with stoplights would be better ideas.

I really don’t care if Councilwoman Candace Mumm is happy, or Councilman Jon Snyder is happy. In fact, if these two are feeling good about something they want in Spokane, you can bet your wallet and purse it’s going to cost you in one way or another.

We definitely need to find more intelligent people to elect, lead and represent us in our government, at all levels, and stop putting people in authority who follow their own agenda and ignore the will of the people.

David Bray

Spokane

Monroe Street project a waste

I congratulate the Spokane City Council. It takes a special kind of callousness to politicize the death of a 5-year-old girl for more government funding. At least the money is going to a school, or children’s program, right? Nope.

The Spokesman-Review reported that the city is going to spend nearly $4 million to fix Monroe Street. That’s great, I recently saw a Land Rover disappear into one of the downtown craters. I’m thrilled they’re fixing the potholes. Except, they’re not.

The city’s taking a section of Monroe and making it two lanes. The purpose of this insanity is to make a safer street. Months, maybe years of construction on one of our main arterials for the purpose of clogging traffic is lunacy. Getting stuck behind buses will be a nightmare. Turning onto Monroe will be impossible. Nobody will use the new sidewalks; nobody uses the current ones.

The city claims this change will actually speed up the flow of traffic. Well, then why do we have four-lane roads? Let’s convert Division Street. Heck, Interstate 90 has way too many lanes. Maybe we should put in a sidewalk.

Can’t the city find something else to waste your money on?

Chris Reichert

Athol, Idaho

Monroe Project is fine

Regarding David Bray, “Monroe fix is dumb,” Jan. 18: I don’t routinely see heavy traffic on Monroe Street, and so doubt that narrowing it to two lanes will result in substantially increased congestion.

Philip Mulligan

Spokane

Spokane becoming like Portland

Beware, Spokane citizens! I grew up in Portland in the late 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

First, Portland took the major four-lane streets leading into and out of downtown and turned them into two-lane streets. Then, the city adjusted the traffic lights so it was almost a daily gridlock (something Spokane has already done). Then Tri-Met, Portland’s light-rail and bus company, started cramming the light-rail system down everybody’s throat. And, of course, this came with double and triple property tax increases.

This is one of the reasons that Vancouver, Wash., and Washington state will not allow Tri-Met to put its light-rail system across the Columbia River, or even agree to build a new highway bridge. (It should be an eight-lane tunnel under the river.)

So, beware Spokane citizens. This narrowing down of Monroe and Market streets from four lanes to two lanes is just the beginning of banning or restricting cars in the downtown area, making our commute all that much longer and, of course, putting more pollution in the air while we sit gridlocked at the misadjusted traffic lights.

Ken Dix

Nine Mile Falls

Designers don’t know Monroe

Why is it traffic designers ignore the fact our streets and highways were designed years ago never expecting the traffic loads currently in place? It’s obvious that whoever came up with the North Monroe Street redesign doesn’t use Monroe much, if at all.

This will not make things better, it will merely push traffic to other streets. Spokane Transit Authority buses will add to the futility of using Monroe. The businesses along that way will not be enhanced by this change, but probably will see a severe drop in business.

I use Monroe a half-dozen times a day and speak with more experience than anyone involved in this ludicrous idea. Instead of trying to better things with utopian dreams, let’s try reality.

As for the accident where the child was killed, I knew where that happened before it came up on the news. That area is known for people crossing in the middle of the street, not looking, as if traffic is supposed to magically stop.

There is nothing dangerous along this route if people merely pay attention and use their heads, but with redesigns like this, it’s obvious the planners didn’t.

Tom Peacock

Spokane

Fight proposed Monroe fixes

Ditto to David Bray, “Monroe fix is dumb” (Jan. 11). I heartily agree with him.

What can be done to stop the demise of North Monroe? Perhaps if more people knew of the congestion to come on North Monroe, the stupidity might stand a chance of dying. Also, bigger print headlines and a color graph might be good. Also, a poll of the businesses. I doubt they are looking forward to lower profits.

Leila Larson

Spokane

Rethink Monroe project

Does anyone see the lunacy of a projected two-lane Monroe Street while the Spokane City Council is already getting cat calls in print from out of state?

We live one block from Monroe, and for more than 20 years have saved time and gas with the existing efficient and speedy four-lane design.

If council members are not interested in maintaining our air quality in the city, they will get their wish as they too will experience repeat unnecessary idling and backups along with the daily commuters during drive time.

Please tell us the drawing board is still accessible for a redo.

Rich Kapelke

Spokane

Let Spokane be more

I couldn’t help but laugh when I read Ken Dix’s Jan. 29 letter deriding moves to make Spokane’s streets more pedestrian- and bicyclist-friendly as essentially Spokane “becoming like Portland.”

God forbid we plan walkable, exciting, mixed-use neighborhoods (like Kendall Yards, or South Perry, or Portland’s Pearl District) where millennials and baby boomers alike want to live.

God forbid we embrace the outdoors, improving recreational access, public health and quality of life. God forbid we develop a high-capacity transit network, including a streetcar and, yes, eventually light rail, to make it easier to live without a car and reduce traffic for those who choose to retain them. God forbid we work to attract the innovative, world-class jobs that drive economic growth for years and years to come.

If that’s what Dix is afraid of, I say let Spokane become Portland.

Road diets aren’t going to turn Spokane into a mini version of our Oregonian neighbor. But I’d be willing to bet that most people would be willing to add 60 seconds to their commute as a first step in planning for great neighborhoods, amazing outdoors access, fast and frequent transit, and sustained long-term economic growth.

Anthony Gill

Spokane

Won’t yield to change

I’ve been amused by the fuss over plans to redo Monroe street. Unlike David Bray (Jan. 11) or Leila Larson (Jan. 31), I don’t have any street planning credentials, but I’m pretty sure of one thing: The solution to traffic congestion isn’t more roads, it’s fewer cars.

The embarrassing outcry over other street projects that incorporate roundabouts or traffic circles simply underscores the opinion of many that, while Spokane continues to grow into a vibrant inland city, some of its residents are stuck in the 1950s.

Come on, people. Traffic calming roundabouts are common all over the world. Be brave. I know they’re scary at first, but you can do it.

Sandy Tarbox

Spokane

Utopian vision blurred

After reading Ken Dix’s well-crafted Jan. 29 letter about Spokane’s street planning leading us to become more like Portland, Anthony Gill’s response, “Let Spokane be more,” appeared Feb. 9.

Gill has a utopian vision of Spokane having planned neighborhoods, a sound economy, “fast and frequent transit,” and only a minute added to our commutes. Absent from Gill’s pitch is a response to Mr. Dix’s prediction that our property taxes would double or triple.

Gill’s like-minded thinkers in Seattle completed a light-rail system there in 2009 between downtown and the airport. Anyone who has experienced rush-hour traffic along I-5 recently between downtown and the I-405 interchange can tell you that traffic there is still bad.

Sound Transit also has express buses to take passengers to park-and-rides throughout the region, but this still doesn’t deter a lot of folks from using their cars. To compound the problem, Seattle is trying unsuccessfully to complete an underground tunnel to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct rather than just replacing the viaduct.

This is another example of utopian planning. We can’t even complete a 5-mile stretch of freeway.

Craig Detmer

Spokane

---

---