Some Things Jeff And I Are Thankful For This Thanksgiving

- Nice enough weather to continue to walk and bike well into this fall.
- That local lawmakers earlier this week didn't suggest stopping construction on the North Spokane Corridor all together until the economy improves. Instead they suggested scaling back the scope of the project.
- That we both still have jobs at SRTC (Glenn must not read this blog or we probably wouldn't).
- Female motorcycle cops (this was Jeff's submission).
- That voters had the foresight several years ago to approve the City's Street Bond.
- That ridership on STA has continued to rise, even after gas prices dropped drastically.
- That my office is in the very back corner, where I can pretty much do whatever all day and no one notices I'm wearing my pajamas.

Have a great Thanksgiving. We'll be back Monday, Dec. 1!

I'm guessing this lady will never fail to stop at a railroad crossing again.

Hillyard Gets Grants For Improvements

The Washington state Transportation Improvement Board (TIB) has awarded the City of Spokane two grants totaling $5.2 million for improvements in Hillyard.

The TIB grants include:
• $2.7 million to enhance economic development. This project will include new ADA-compliant sidewalks, pedestrian lighting, and street trees with a new irrigation system along Market Street from Heroy to Columbia. Construction is slated for 2009.
• $2.5 million to construct a left-turn lane and add sidewalks and bicycle lanes on Francis Avenue from Freya to Havana. The project is slated for construction in 2011.

Good work Hillyard!

Holiday Closures

Some advance notice of what's open and what's closed for the Thanksgiving holiday this week:

- Most Department of Transportation construction work will be suspended from Thursday, November 27th , through Sunday, November 30th, in anticipation of increased holiday traffic.
- Spokane City Hall will be closed on Thursday and Friday, Nov. 27 and 28.
- City of Spokane libraries, solid waste transfer stations, and the Waste to Energy Facility will be closed on Thursday, Nov. 27, but open regular hours the rest of the weekend.
- Thursday is a parking meter holiday, but normal meter use rules apply the rest of the weekend.
- All Spokane County offices, including the Public Safety Building, will be closed Friday and Saturday.

Price To Fly Coming Down

Airfares are falling rather than rising as the holiday travel season approaches. Due to the bad economy, many travelers are paying about $100 less per trip than people who locked in tickets months ago.

The holiday bargains come after financially strapped airlines shrank U.S. operations by about 10 percent this fall. Analysts predicted the capacity cuts would keep planes full but carriers are still struggling to fill seats, as many people are saving their money, unsure what to expect of the economy.

Plan Cuts NSC Price... And Amenities

State lawmakers Lisa Brown, Chris Marr, and Timm Ormsby held a news conference earlier this morning to propose a much smaller version of the stretch of the North Spokane Corridor between Francis Avenue and the Spokane River.

Due to funding issues, they're proposing the following changes:

•An interchange northwest of the Esmeralda Golf Course would be added later.
•The road would have four lanes instead of eight.
•Plans to put parts of the freeway below ground level would be shelved.

I was personally glad to hear that the bike/ped path will remain. And the WSDOT will still own the right of way required to build the original-planned freeway, so when the money becomes available they can expand.

Here's more information.


I heard some local DJs talking about this on the radio this morning. Their take is that the new plan sounds just like Division, minus the traffic lights. What's your thoughts on this proposal?

AAA Predicts Holiday Travel Won't Drop Much

Despite layoffs, foreclosures and stock losses, AAA is predicting that holiday travel won't drop much, and that 41 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more this Thanksgiving and Christmas. Here's are the numbers.

Do you plan to travel this week?

Flaggers to Direct Traffic Near Malls Starting Next Friday

It's that time again, the time when shopping starts to take over our entire lives, to the point that it can obstruct traffic.

Here's early warning that, starting next week, drivers near NorthTown Mall may experience delays due to traffic back-ups caused by people trying to get into and out of the mall. Flaggers will be on hand, starting next Friday, Nov. 28.

Same story near the entrance and exit to the River Park Square parking garage downtown. Flaggers will also be directing traffic at both those locations starting Friday.

It's that time of the year again...be careful out there

That's right. The roads iced up last night and several drivers failed to pay attention to that on their way to work this morning. The Spokaesman review did a round up of accidents in Spokane and Idaho this morning. Man, you knwo that guy that ran the redlight and hit a sheriff's deputy is going to have a bad day... Check out the story below:


Below freezing conditions overnight are causing slick roads in north and west Spokane County.

Collisions have been reported on Highway 2 near Elk-Chattaroy Road.

On Highway 27 at 24th Avenue, a two-car collision has been pulled off the roadway, said Washington State Patrol Trooper Mark Baker. Two people were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.


In Idaho

Three wrecks have been reported on Highway 95, police said.

A pickup rollover at Cougar-Gulch Road south of Coeur d'Alene is being investigated.

A jackknifed Fed-Ex truck between Grangeville and Lewiston is blocking the highway, officials said. Expect a two-hour road closure.

At Highway 95 and Kathleen, a Kootenai County Sheriff's deputy was hit by a red-light runner. The deputy is a little shaken but otherwise OK, said Kootenai County Sheriff's Capt. Ben Wolfinger. The driver who hit the deputy is uninjured. Idaho State Police is investigating.

Avoid Bad Roads This Winter By Finding A Different Way To Work

The weather has been amazingly mild for this time of year, but don't get used to it, we all know bad weather and nasty road conditions are on the way. So be proactive for once and think ahead about how you're going to get to work in one piece when the roads are bad. I highly recommend riding the bus, but the folks at the Spokane County Commute Trip (CTR) Reduction program have some other options you can check out too, and they even reward you for using them! Here's a link to the CTR site.

Some Stats From The WSDOT

The Washington State Department of Transportation wants you to know their crews are ready to handle snow and ice control duties. For the duration of the winter, 200 crew members will work two shifts, seven days a week, to keep the 1,600 miles of state highways in the seven northeastern counties safe.

93 snowplows are stationed throughout the region, and 14 liquid anti-ice chemical trucks. Maintenance teams are on duty from around 4:00 a.m. to midnight or later. Liquid and solid chemicals, plus sand, are important tools in snow and ice control.

Some advice from the WSDOT:

- Check for accidents and dangerous roads by logging onto the Spokane Regional Transportation Management Center website.
- Watch out for slippery bridge decks, even when the rest of the road fine.
- Don’t use cruise control.
- Don’t follow too closely.
- Slow down!

Rockslide Reveals Giant Fossil

A rockslide in western Washington has revealed a huge fossil... and a tropical past for our region. Here's the story from the WSDOT blog.

City Impact Fees Approved But Delayed

Spokane leaders have finally created taxes on new development in hopes of solving a growing shortfall in street funding.

But because of restrictions in the "impact fee" ordinance, which was approved by City Council Monday, it's unclear when the city will start collecting the money.Here's the story.

Two People Hit By Car In Valley

Two people were hit by a car early this morning in Spokane Valley at Evergreen Road and Mallon Avenue. As of 8:00 this morning, the northbound, right hand lane of Evergreen is blocked, and Mallon is blocked east of the intersection. The couple were taken to Sacred Heart Medical Center with serious injuries.

Remember folks, if you're walking or driving, you need to be a lot more vigilant now that it gets light later. It's hard for drivers to see you if you don't wear light colors when walking. And this morning's fog not only cut down sight distance, but also made some roadways slick, which means it's hard to stop in a hurry.

Move Your Cars If You Live In Browne's Addition

It happens every year, the City of Spokane asks Browne's Addition residents to move their cars in order to pick up leaves, and some people don't get the message, or get their cars moved. Well, it's time again. Tomorrow, starting at 9 a.m., the trucks will be on the north-south streets in Browne’s Addition. Wednesday it's the east-west streets.

Cars must be moved because the streets are so narrow in Browne’s Addition the trucks cannot get through with parked vehicles lining the streets. Vehicles parked on the street when the trucks come in will be subject to towing.

Rockslide Drops Rocks As Big As Cars

Check out this picture of a rockslide that happened on Chuckanut Drive (SR 11) in Western Washington last week. Fortunately no one was injured or hurt when several hundred yards of rock crashed onto the roadway. Some of the rocks were as big as small cars.

Writer Not Happy With Sprague/Appleway Decision

Spokesman-Review Letters to the editor
Street plan 'monstrous'

Regarding your editorial (Nov. 3) approving the "hybrid" traffic compromise by the city of Spokane Valley, one might say: "What's another $12 million, anyway?" It is, however, just part of a monstrous, $42 million unfunded mandate to totally change over six miles of the Sprague/ Appleway corridor almost to Greenacres.

Though Valley population and commercial activity trends eastward, our city seeks to eliminate, through zoning, any retail and land competition to force commercial growth at University City. Thus, magically, a "city" will rise, rebuilt around a grand edifice called City Hall, worthy of housing an exploding bureaucracy.

This plan is also discriminatory and arbitrary, favors a select few, and saddles hundreds of businesses and property owners with compromised titles, depressed real estate and insurance and financing worries through "nonconforming" status. Building restrictions border the absurd.

With a 2009 budget of $111 million ($304,000/day), the city appears oblivious to looming taxpayer burdens. Dissenters are lectured about their powerless status.

The tragedy is that all of us want an attractive city, built by citizen consensus. But deaf ears prevail. The plan has been bought, the planning department has been unleashed and the taxpayers lose.

Elizabeth Damascus Grafos
Spokane Valley

What's your opinion of the Sprague/Appleway Corridor 'compromise?'

Roundup For the Week of Nov. 17

If you haven't been to Spokane International Airport lately you're in for a surprise when you do go, troopers issue almost 3,000 citations to large trucks in a safety emphasis patrol, and don't warm your car up in the morning because you could get a ticket. Here's roundup from the Spokesman's 'Getting There' column.

Is Honda Withholding Natural Gas Burning Car?

Is Honda suppressing sales of a car that's being called by some "the cleanest internal-combustion vehicle in the world." That's what some writers and websites claim, and they're using Spokane Community College's auto mechanic program as proof.

The college has been trying to get their hands on a compressed natural gas-burning car, to train would-be mechanics, with no luck. SCC's prolonged effort is being cited in a book about America's reliance on foreign oil, and also in online reports for The Cutting Edge Web site. Here's the story from the Spokesman-Review.

Mark Your Calendars For Master Bike Plan Open House

You're invited to attend an open house next week to learn the status of the update to the City of Spokane’s Master Bike Plan. The meeting is Tuesday, Nov. 18, 6 to 8 p.m. at Salem Lutheran Church, 1428 W. Broadway.

The update includes identifying ways to make Spokane more bicycle-friendly and improving bike routes, signage, and other elements. You'll have the opportunity to make comments and suggestions and ask questions.

We'll remind you again next week.