Cooking up savings

Most people go to Zip’s Drive-in to fill their bellies. John Carlson goes to fill his fuel tank.

Carlson recently converted his 1993 Chevrolet pickup to run on kitchen grease, and he proudly advertises its fuel source with a large “This truck is powered by French Fry Oil!” decal on the tailgate.

And because he owns the Zip’s at 2125 E. Sprague Ave., he gets to fill up for free.

“We’re saving the world one french fry at a time,” he said of fellow drivers of grease-fuel vehicles.

Before the conversion by Seattle’s Green Car Co., Carlson paid to have the restaurant’s cooking oil hauled away. Now, anything that won’t fit into the truck goes into a 55-gallon reserve drum in his office.

Converting the truck cost about $2,500, but Carlson figures he’ll make that money back in fuel savings in a year.

The truck still needs some diesel for startup because the vegetable oil must be heated for a short time before it reaches the correct viscosity. At that point, Carlson switches the truck to the grease. When he turns off the ignition, the system automatically flushes out the cooking oil so it won’t congeal in the fuel lines.

Very little diesel is needed. After driving 3,000 miles, he still has three-quarters of a tank. And he can drive 700 miles without having to refill the 40-gallon vegetable-oil reservoir in the back of the pickup.

The truck conversion brought another change at Zip’s – to non-hydrogenated oil – better for diners’ hearts and the environment.

In fact, the emissions smell so good that Carlson has just one concern.

“I worry about my dog licking the tailpipe.”

The stick works

Idaho drivers buckle up more often in Washington than they do in their home state.

According to a Washington Traffic Safety Commission study, it’s probably because Washington is tougher than Idaho on people who don’t use seat belts.

The study monitored seat-belt use in Idaho-plated and Washington-plated passenger vehicles in five cities in each state, including several border communities.

While Idaho car drivers buckled up only 84 percent of the time in Idaho, they used seat belts 94 percent of the time in Washington. Idaho pickup truck drivers were less likely to wear seat belts in both states, but their use still increased from 71 percent in Idaho to 87 percent in Washington.

In Idaho, drivers can be ticketed only $10 for noncompliance if they are cited for another driving violation, while Washington law makes driving without a seat belt a primary driving offense with a $101 ticket.

“If you look at driver behavior, the size of the penalty is a huge factor,” said the study’s co-author, John Moffat, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Pacific Northwest region administrator.

Moffat said the people whom primary seat-belt laws affect are those who aren’t convinced by safety arguments.

But once people start buckling up, the habit sticks. The 95 percent of Washington car drivers and 93 percent of pickup drivers observed wearing their seat belts dropped to only 93 percent and 87 percent respectively in Idaho, even though the threat of a ticket decreased substantially there.

Palouse project

The Washington state Department of Transportation will kick off an $18 million project this week to widen state Highway 270 between Pullman and the Idaho border.

The two-lane highway will be widened to four travel lanes and a center turn lane for 6.5 miles.

A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Highway 270/Airport Road intersection just east of Pullman.

The public can learn more about the project at an open house from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. June 15 at the Pullman Holiday Inn Express, 1190 Bishop Blvd.

The project is supposed to be finished in fall 2007.

Child-seat checks

AAA and the Spokane County Child Passenger Safety Team are offering free child-seat checks Friday.

Technicians will be at the downtown Spokane AAA office at 1717 W. Fourth Avenue from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The checks take about 30 minutes each. No appointment is needed.

Fair warning

Spokane police will crack down this week on speeders along Fort George Wright Drive between Northwest Boulevard and Government Way.

The area has had increased traffic in recent weeks.

Slow going

Large numbers of projects make it unwieldy to list all of them in the print edition of this newspaper. So, until the end of the construction season, “Getting There” will list only the largest construction projects and new projects in the paper. Ongoing project information is available at www.spokesmanreview.com /blogs/gettingthere.

Interstate 90

I-90 is reduced to two lanes in each direction between Division and Maple. On most nights, it will be reduced to only one lane in each direction. The Monroe/Lincoln ramps are closed, as are the westbound Browne Street on-ramp and the eastbound Maple on-ramp and eastbound Division exit. The speed limit has been reduced to 45 mph, and no lane-changing is allowed.

North Spokane

Rutter Parkway is closed from state Highway 291 to Hope Lane until late June. Flaggers will be directing single-lane traffic on most days on Highway 291 near Rutter Parkway and Charles Road. The highway also may be closed for up to 20 minutes at a time for blasting near Rutter Parkway.

Crestline Street is closed from Lincoln Road to Francis Avenue. Lincoln Road is closed from Napa Street to Crestline. Detours are in place.

Crews will repair the Mission/Maxwell Street arterial this week from Monroe to Howard.

Haven Street is closed in Hillyard.

South Spokane

The right southbound lane of U.S. Highway 195 will be closed every day from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. near Meadow Lane Road so crews can install a water main.

Freya Street will be restricted to only local-access traffic from Hartson to 11th Avenue and from 18th to 37th avenues. Detours are in place.

Work to rehabilitate 29th Avenue between Southeast Boulevard and Grand Boulevard has reduced traffic to one lane in each direction, and drivers are unable to enter or exit Perry at 29th. Detours are in place.

Spokane sweeping

Crews will sweep in northwest Spokane from Ash Street to A Street this week in the area bounded by Wellesley and Garland. In northeast Spokane, sweeping will be in the area bounded by Crestline, Nevada, Francis and Wellesley. On the South side, sweeping will be in the area bounded by Fifth, 29th, Monroe and Cannon.

Please move cars off the streets. For more information, call (509) 456-2666.

Spokane Valley

Barker Road is closed from Boone to Euclid for road widening.

Idaho

Prairie Avenue remains under construction between Ramsey and Huetter.

Construction on Lancaster Road between Government Way and Strahorn may cause delays.

Idaho Transportation Department work on U.S. Highway 95 near the Canadian border may slow traffic.