From the Regional Administrator

Welcome to our May 2010 newsletter. This month we highlight our North Spokane Corridor open house meetings and some of our construction projects.

As always, if you have any questions on items in this newsletter, or other transportation issues, please let me know. Give me a call at (509) 324-6010 or drop me an e-mail at metcalk@wsdot.wa.gov .

Keith Metcalf
Regional Administrator

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North Spokane Corridor open houses

As part of our North Spokane Corridor outreach efforts, we hold informational open house meetings to update the community regarding the North Spokane Corridor, especially the current and upcoming construction projects. There is also information on future work, the corridor design, and future plans. Department staff is on hand at these meeting to answer questions about the overall status of the project and construction details. Real Estate Services representatives are also available. These open house meetings are informal with no scheduled presentation. We invite interested citizens to drop by at any time during the meeting and talk to the staff one on one.
We held our first open house of 2010 on May 25th at the East Central Community Center. Over 200 people attended and viewed the displays. They had plenty of questions for the staff.

If you missed the meeting in May, the second meeting is Thursday, June 24th, from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. at the Northeast Community Center. The center is located at 4001 N. Cook in Spokane.

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) is in the design and construction phase of the US 395/North Spokane Corridor. Construction is underway on two jobs in a series of eight contracts on this facility as a result of the transportation funding package passed by the Legislature in 2003. In addition, construction on the Francis to Farwell Southbound Lanes project should begin later this summer.

WSDOT Construction project highlights

On Monday, May 17th work got underway on a paving project on Division Street in north Spokane. The job consists of resurfacing work on most of a 19-mile section of US 395 from the Spokane City Limits at the “Y” to the Stevens County line north of Deer Park. Inland Asphalt Company of Spokane is the prime contractor on the job with a construction bid of $4,076,235. The work should take about three months to complete. This paving project is a part of the Department’s pavement preservation program. The current road surface is deteriorating as a result of routine wear and tear. The existing surface will be ground out and replaced with a new layer of Hot Mix Asphalt. In addition, there will be some guardrail, sidewalk, and signage upgrades. The five mile, concrete surfaced, divided highway segment from the Little Spokane River to the vicinity of Fender Road is not part of the job. To help ease traffic congestion, the asphalt paving will be done during evening and overnight hours.

Also coming up this season is another paving job on Division Street in Spokane. This one stretches from Euclid Avenue, just north of the Ruby Couplet, to Francis Avenue. Like most of our paving jobs, this work consists of grinding out the top layer of the roadway and repaving with a new layer of Hot Mix Asphalt. This paving is also scheduled for evening and overnight hours. One added component is a concrete pavement surface at the Wellesley Avenue intersection. That extra work will entail some added lane restrictions during extended hours. We’ll have more details next month.

Of course, work on the North Spokane Corridor continues between Farwell Road and Wandermere with the Francis to Farwell Southbound Lanes project getting started later this summer. Also, as we reported last month, paving work is underway on US 195 from Colton to the Idaho border