Topics
North Spokane Corridor
Summary
The first leg of the long-sought North Spokane freeway opened in August 2009 and provides partial achievement of a high-speed, non-stop link from Interstate 90 to the edge of the Spokane urban area, a distance of 10.5 miles. The northern half of the project from Francis Avenue to Wandermere Road on U.S. Highway 395 is scheduled to open in 2011. It will complement the two-lane section opened in 2009, and will have interchange access for the two major North Side highways – U.S. 2 and 395.
Nearly $570 million has been committed to planning, right-of-way and construction so far. That includes a $35 million federal economic stimulus grant awarded in 2010. DOT estimates it will need another $1.6 billion to finish the freeway from Francis to I-90 and could spend another 20 years on the job. By then, the total cost could swell to $3 billion.
As early as 1946, state officials called for building a companion roadway adjacent to Division Street to improve North Side traffic flow. The push for a freeway accelerated in the 1960s and ‘70s, but a route through the Logan and Lidgerwood neighborhoods ran into opposition and stalled.
Selection of the current route on the east side of Hillyard occurred after BNSF Railway closed its facilities there in the 1980s, leaving behind large hunks of little-used property. Opposition to the current project has largely been limited to residents in the path of the freeway and a handful of activists.
Proponents see the freeway as means to increase efficiency of the region’s roads, allowing freight and general traffic to move through the area more quickly and creating jobs and economic growth in the process.
Summary written by staff writer Mike Prager
More information
Washington Department of Transportation
Latest updates in this topic
Getting There: North Spokane Corridor work gets underway to span Spokane River
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Getting There: Looking ahead to North Spokane Corridor construction in 2023
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Getting There: Inslee, Spokane lawmakers remain committed to finding funding for North Spokane Corridor
In a news conference on Thursday, Inslee said he’s hopeful he and legislators can find a creative way to avoid the six-year delay he initially proposed in his transportation budget. …
Local delegation blasts Inslee’s proposed transportation budget that includes North Spokane Corridor pause as ‘almost unconscionable’
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Getting There: Now out of the North Spokane Corridor’s path, SCC’s clock tower is set for renovations
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Getting There: Anxious about ‘more of the same,’ East Central appeals to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on North Spokane Corridor exits
“Mister Secretary, I ask that your department works with our state Department of Transportation along with state and local leaders to provide a solution to the apparent funding shortcomings that …
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Shannon Benn went door to door, soliciting input from her neighbors in Minnehaha.
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Former Spokane City Councilman Mike Brewer, a longtime Hillyard booster, transportation advocate and World War II veteran, dies
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North Spokane freeway funded in transportation budget, but lawmakers continue push for new revenue package
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Woman driving under the influence crashes Sunday morning, injures 9-year-old passenger
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Getting There: A new vision for Division starts to take shape, with bus rapid transit running on a street freed up by the NSC
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Transportation projects paused by I-976 could restart soon as lawmakers near budget agreement
House and Senate leaders have plans to fill a $450 million hole in the state’s transportation budget created by the passage of Initiative 976, but warn it’s a stop-gap measure …
Getting There: After glacial progress, East Central braces for effects of North Spokane Corridor’s eventual arrival at I-90
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State puts portion of North Spokane freeway on hold in response to I-976
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Getting There: Northeast City Council candidates discuss North Spokane Corridor, street planning, public transit
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With another section of the North Spokane Corridor complete, freeway is on track to be finished in 10 years
The North Spokane Corridor is on track to be complete in 2029, and “five big projects” building the freeway will begin in 2020, said Mike Gribner, eastern region administrator for …
Spokane Community College parking lot expansion to add 400 spaces
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East Central group working to transplant historic Rose Apartments from I-90’s edge to save it from freeway expansion
The century-old Rose Apartments will soon be moving from Third to Fourth Avenue.
Group will plant trees along north-south freeway
Developer Larry Stone’s long crusade to get ponderosa pines planted on the North Spokane Corridor has paid off.