$90 million in road work slated here

Journal of Business, Mar 08, 2007 by Wilson, Rocky

An estimated $90 million in road and bridgeconstruction projects are expected to be built this year in Spokane County, up from about $85 million in projects a year ago.

Despite this year's increase, the impact on those who drive on roads in the county could be less than last year. That's because a big percentage of the construction money to be spent here this year will be doled out on the North Spokane Corridor project, also known as the north-south freeway, which isn't open to traffic yet.

In addition, the Washington state Department of Transportation (DOT) plans to spend $10.5 million on design work this summer on a project that, at an undetermined future date, would expand Interstate 90 to six lanes from four lanes from the Sullivan Road interchange east to the Idaho state line. That proposed 7.5-mile long project is estimated to cost $166 million. In addition, Spokane County plans to spend $1 million this year to help design what has ballooned into a proposed $56 million Bigelow Gulch Road improvement project, which could get under way next year and be completed in 2012.

Money spent to upgrade or build new roads and bridges in the city of Spokane, the city of Spokane Valley, and Spokane County is down by varying amounts from a year ago. A more than $12 million hike in planned DOT road and bridge expenditures accounts for the projected higher dollar amount to be spent countywide this year.

Projects that last more than one construction season, which are common with the DOT, and the DOT's reluctance to release more than generalized project cost estimates before it receives bids, make one-year cost projections difficult to estimate for the state projects. Yet, rough estimates put DOT's spending within the county this year at about $48 million, up from about $36 million last year.

The city of Spokane's estimated road and bridge expenditures this year, which include about half the cost of building the $16 million Havana Street Bridge, amount to about $22 million, down from about $26 million last year. The city of Spokane Valley's road expenditures will be down slightly to about $10.5 million this year from $10.7 million last year, while Spokane County's road projects will dip to about $9.4 million this year from $12 million in 2006.

DOT projects

Three DOT projects totaling about $55 million will be under construction this summer on the north-south freeway, north of Francis Avenue. One project is a carryover from last year that will be completed this year, and the other two projects are scheduled to start this year and to be completed in 2008.

Max J. Kuney Co., of Spokane, is continuing work on six new freeway bridges under a $17 million contract it was awarded last year.

Dustin Vaughn, a DOT transportation engineer, says three of those spans-the Fairview Road, Parksmith Drive, and Market Street bridges-will be completed by July 1. He says work on the three other bridges-two of them where Shady Slope Road crosses the freeway alignment and one at Perry Street-should be completed in November.

Two other DOT contracts for north-south freeway work will be awarded this month. One, at an estimated cost of $18 million, will include two miles of earthwork along the freeway's projected northbound route between Wilding Avenue and Fairview Road, plus the construction of one bridge each where the freeway's alignment crosses Gerlach and Lincoln roads. The second contract, expected to be near $20 million, will require placing a rock base and paving along the entire four-mile stretch of planned roadway between Wilding and Farwell Road, to the north. Both projects are expected to begin this spring and to be completed in about May of next year, says Tom Brasch, a DOT assistant project engineer.

The DOT has six other road projects scheduled this construction season that will meet or exceed $1 million, says Al Gilson, DOT's regional spokesman.

Tops on the list is the second half of a $13 million project to remove and replace the concrete surface on a 1.7-mile stretch of the I-90 viaduct through downtown Spokane. The eastbound lanes were reconstructed there last year between the Maple and Division street interchanges, and the westbound lanes will receive the same treatment this year.

Gilson says this year's work will begin in mid-May and should be completed by mid-September. Like last year, traffic will continue to flow during construction on narrow lanes at speeds up to 45 mph, he says. Some on and off ramps to the freeway will be closed.

From April until August the DOT will work on a $6.1 million job to upgrade the northbound surface of U.S. 195 for about 11 miles between Cornwall Road, just north of Spangle, and Hatch Road. Steel dowels will be inserted where necessary to reduce the shifting of concrete panels in the roadway, and asphalt sections of that road will be repaved, Gilson says. Northbound traffic will be reduced to one lane at certain times of construction, he says.

For three weeks in July, the DOT plans to close Sullivan Road, in Spokane Valley, for a $3.1 million, roughly twoblock paving project between Mission and Indiana avenues that will include that road's span over I90. The asphalt surface there will be removed and replaced with concrete, says Gilson.