Valley moves ahead with plans to widen lanes on Mission

The city of Spokane Valley is hosting an open house next Thursday about plans to improve Mission Avenue from Flora Road to Barker Road.

To some, it will come as good news that the proposed roundabout at Mission Avenue and Long Road has been taken off the table.

That’s the intersection where Central Valley School District is proposing a new elementary school to be finished in 2018.

The city has determined that this section of Mission Avenue runs through one of the fastest growing neighborhoods in Spokane Valley, the northern part of Greenacres.

Growth has led to an increase in traffic and made it necessary to update Mission, said Spokane Valley project manager Craig Aldworth.

The stretch of Mission Avenue under discussion is a two-lane road with few sidewalks and curbs. The project will widen lanes to arterial-size and add 5-foot-wide bike lanes and 6-foot-wide ADA compliant sidewalks in each direction.

“Stormwater management is a big part of this project,” Aldworth said. With the new curbs, stormwater will be piped away from the roadway and into stormwater treatment grass swales on empty lots along Mission.

“This is the fourth community meeting,” Aldworth said. “We are in the right of way phase now.”

Aldworth said that the project has been designed to have the least impact on property owners along Mission, but that those at major intersections may lose some right of way.

“And we need some for the swales,” Aldworth said.

The project will cost approximately $4.3 million. A federal Surface Transportation Grant contributes $794,000, the city of Spokane Valley matches that with $823,002, and the rest is covered by a state grant of $2.7 million.

With the new school, Aldworth said Mission Avenue will become a busy arterial and should have sidewalks for students to walk to school on.

“During weather like this, the students would be walking in the street,” Aldworth said.