Road projects go on despite funding delays
A congressional delay in the reauthorization of the Federal Highway Act has not stopped local officials from launching a series of street and bridge projects, including a new bridge to span rail lines in East Spokane.
The pace of local road construction should increase noticeably this spring as new federal grant money becomes available throughout Spokane County, in anticipation of the act being reauthorized.
In the city of Spokane, engineers are now designing a new bridge to cross BNSF Railway tracks that cross Havana Street. At $12 million, the planned new bridge is being funded through a combination of federal and state grants.Trains currently block Havana as much as 18 hours a day.
Elsewhere, repaving is planned for several Spokane Valley arterials, and Spokane County has scheduled major improvements this year to the Palouse Highway from Valley Chapel Road to Odell Road, at a cost of $4 million.
“There are some big projects in the pipeline,” said Tom Arnold, Spokane’s director of engineering services. “We are moving.”
Congress is said to be close to a compromise with the White House on a six-year reauthorization of the Federal Highway Act, which could provide millions of dollars for local road, transit, trail and bridge projects.
The highway act expired in 2003. Funding for many programs was continued under extensions approved by Congress, although money for local projects was slowed in 2004.
Glenn Miles, transportation manager for the Spokane Regional Transportation Council, said most federal grant programs are likely to continue. As a result, the SRTC recently gave Spokane local governments approval to move ahead with more than a dozen projects.
The Havana Street rail overpass, to be completed in 2006, could become a detour route in 2007 when the city closes the Freya Street Bridge between Broadway and Trent avenues for a $3.2 million replacement.
In a related project, officials are planning to move Broadway Avenue where it meets Freya nearly a block southward to reduce the grade on the south end of the Freya bridge. Plans also call for easing the existing curves on Broadway east of Freya.
Without the Havana detour, the city would have to build the Freya bridge in two halves over two years, to keep traffic flowing. That would add $1 million to the project. With the Havana detour, the city can close Freya completely and replace the Freya bridge in one year.
Some local projects do not qualify for state or federal grants. That’s why the city last year asked voters to approve a $117 million bond issue to repair local arterial and residential streets. Work is expected to start this year. The city also has money left to spend from a $15 million council-approved bond issue in 2003.
More than 110 miles of street improvements are scheduled under the bond issues in Spokane over the next 10 years.
One of those bond-issue projects is the reconstruction of Washington Street from Boone to Buckeye. Arnold said that job recently qualified for some federal grant money, freeing up money for other city bond-issue projects.
In another federal grant, city officials plan to expand a network of Web cameras that show real-time road conditions on Interstate 90. Cameras will be installed along some of the city’s busier streets, including the Maple-Ash corridor, Third Avenue and Division-Ruby streets.
Other city projects qualifying for federal funds include a new Bridge Avenue to connect Monroe and Lincoln streets on the north side of the Spokane River and reconstruction of Crestline Street from Decatur Avenue to Lincoln Road.
In the Valley, projects recently receiving federal grant money for new pavement include Frederick Street from Havana to Upriver Drive; Upriver Drive from Havana to Buckeye; Wellesley Avenue from Upriver Drive to the Spokane Valley city limits; Dishman-Mica Road between First and Sprague avenues; Broadway Avenue from Bates to Sullivan Road; Argonne Road between Montgomery and Indiana avenues; and the intersection of Pines Road at Mansfield Avenue.