Recycled Bus

My sister-in-law who works downtown sent me this picture, with this message: "This very stylish and eco-cycled school bus-to-homemade RV is parked outside my building right now. Notice the cedar shake siding and the residential housing windows. Best example of reduce/reuse/recycle I've seen in a while, but probably not so fuel efficient."

My question was how many parking meter spots is that thing taking up and did they pay for all the spots?

Vintage Trains To Visit Spokane

Mark your calendars train enthusiasts; Union Pacific is proud to celebrate its 150th Anniversary in Spokane, on July 11, at the Spokane Amtrak Depot at 221 West 1st Ave.

The railroad’s Streamliner E9s and The Promontory museum car will be on display from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. “The Promontory” is a traveling museum that allows visitors to interact with railroad history via a 65-inch touch video screen highlighting many of the 27 communities the car will be visiting in 2012.

The Spokane celebration is part of a UP anniversary tour; other stops include Boise and Pocatello, Idaho, and Eugene and Portland, Ore.

Construction Underway On Bike/Ped Bridge Near GU

After nearly a decade and a half of planning, construction has begun on a project to convert an old railroad bridge near Gonzaga University into a path for trail users.


Iron Bridge will provide pedestrian and bicycle bridge access to the Centennial Trail across the Spokane River from the Iron Bridge Office Park on Trent Avenue. The Spokesman-Review has the details.

Gas Prices Around WA

The AAA auto club reports the average price of a gallon of unleaded gas in Washington is $4.16!


That’s down 12 cents in a week and is 62 cents higher than the national average.

The AAA survey shows these gas prices from around the state:

Bellingham $4.31
Bremerton $4.13
Seattle-Bellevue-Everett $4.22
Tacoma $4.14
Olympia $4.15
Vancouver $4.12
Yakima $4.17
Tri-Cities $4.09
Spokane $3.93.

SRTC Board Meeting Agenda

The next SRTC Board meeting is next Thursday, June 14 here at the SRTC office.
Here is the agenda. As always, everyone is welcome so come by if you can.

Smooth Riding On New Complete Street

Have you ever been the first to do something? What a feeling! Well, Bike to Work Barb over at
Bikestyle was the first to ride on the new Martin Luther King Way through the University District, and she takes us for a tour of Spokane's newest complete street here.

Construction Update forWeek of June 11

SPOKANE CITY

• ElkFest will take place this Friday, through Sunday, June 8 to 10, in Browne’s Addition. Cannon St. from Pacific to First avenues will be closed.
• The Spring Flake Suede Swamp Stomp and Bike Swap Meet takes place Saturday, June 9, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fifth Ave. from Oak to Cannon streets and Elm St. from Fourth to Fifth avenues will be closed for the car show and bike swap.

• The 21st Annual LGBTQA Pride Parade and Rainbow Festival, sponsored by OutSpokane, will take place from noon until 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 9. The parade begins at noon; the route begins at Wall St. and Main Ave.; marchers will travel along Main Ave. until they reach Stevens St., and then follow Stevens St. to Riverside Ave., turning onto Riverside Ave. traveling to Post St., back onto Main Ave. to Howard St., onto Howard St. and end at Riverfront Park. Motorists are asked to drive with caution as parade marchers are on the street
• The Cruizin’ for Kids Car and Motorcycle Show to benefit the Starlight Children’s Foundation takes place this Sunday, June 10, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Garland Ave. from Monroe to Lincoln streets will be closed to accommodate the event which includes live music, children’s play area, and vendors.

WSDOT

• Friday, June 8th, from 7 a.m. until as late as Noon, northbound Division Street traffic is diverted onto Wandermere Road between Farwell and the Hatch Road Interchange. This detour will be in place to allow the contractor to remove temporary concrete barriers, install median barriers, and apply paint striping for the new NSC Interchange. Striping work requires dry pavement and may have to be rescheduled. On Friday, June 8, depending on weather, some traffic lanes will be restricted for intersection crosswalk and turn arrow painting. On Wednesday, June 13th, late in the day or evening, the new freeway lanes will open providing a free flow, high speed connection from existing US 395 at Wandermere to the Freya Street Roundabout just north of Francis Avenue, a distance of over 5 miles. On Monday, June 11th, depending on weather, beginning at about 9 p.m., until as late as 9 p.m. on Tuesday, southbound US 395 traffic will be diverted onto Wandermere Road to allow crews to paint the concrete traffic barriers.

• On Wednesday, June 13, beginning at 9 a.m. until as late as 3 p.m., westbound I-90 will be reduced to two through lanes in the vicinity of Freya. The right lane will be closed. Possible slow traffic and congestion.
• On Monday, June 11 and possibly Tuesday, June 12, from about 9 p.m. until as late as 4 a.m. the following morning, the northbound and southbound NSC from Freya to Farwell will be closed for the installation of an overhead sign structure. Traffic will be detoured via Market Street. In addition, Freya remains closed to all traffic between the NSC Roundabout and Lincoln Road. The official detour for access to Fairview Road, Lincoln Road, Gerlach Road, plus businesses and residences on Freya in this area is from the north via Freya Street from Market Street. This closure may be in place until early July during construction of the second roundabout.

SPOKANE VALLEY

• The seconf phase of the Sprague Avenue - Evergreen to Sullivan Reconstruction Project begins June 11 and continue through late June - South side of Sprague between Sullivan and 14900 block of Sprague Avenue. Sprague will be reduced to one lane each direction with a center turn lane. The south side of the Sprague/Progress intersection will be closed.
• University Road between 4th Avenue and 16th Avenue - If weather permits, expect curb lane closures in both directions at different times around the clock through Friday, June 15 for resurfacing.
• 8000 Block of E Riverway Avenue - Expect delays and minor congestion due to heavy equipment in the area.

Construction Starts On Missing Piece of Centennial Trail

Twenty years after the Centennial Trail first opened, work has started on a key missing piece: the two miles running west from Riverfront Park on the north bank of the Spokane River.


A $2 million state jobs grant is financing the construction through the Kendall Yards mixed-use development. A ceremony was held yesterday to mark the start of construction. The Spokesman-Review has the details.

He'll Never Live This One Down

Talk about ironic. The Idaho Statesman says a 22-year-old eastern Idaho driver was looking at a text message on his phone when he hit a sheriff deputy's parked patrol car. Police say the man was looking at a text message on his phone when he drove into the back of a patrol car parked on the side of the road.The sheriff's deputy was not in the patrol car at the time. The vehicle's lights were flashing to alert drivers to a fire in the median of the road. The driver was cited for inattentive driving. And will have to live with the harassing his buddies will give him for a very long time. Which is worse than the ticket.

Public Hearing On Infill Housing Zoning

The City of Spokane’s Plan Commission will hold a public hearing and open house on Wednesday, June 13, at 4 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, Lower Level of City Hall, 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.


The Plan Commission is working on recommended amendments to Spokane Municipal Code related to the Infill Housing Zoning Code Update Project to provide new opportunities for residential infill development. The proposals are intended to encourage ownership of housing and address ways to make infill residential development compatible with existing neighborhoods.

The Commission is seeking public input on the recommended amendments to the code at the public hearing and open house. Planning Services staff will be available before the open house, from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m., to answer questions.

The draft proposed amendments are available at www.spokaneplanning.org/Infill_Housing.html.

Why am I posting this on a transportation blog? Because where you live in relation to where you work has everything to do with transportation. When we were working on the Transportation Vision Project in 2010 and '11, a lot of the feedback received was that we need to encourage infill instead of sprawl. If people live close to where they work, they're more likely to walk, ride their bikes or the bus to commute. That translates to less vehicle miles travelled, which is one of our long-term goals at SRTC, which in turn translates to a more convenient, better-maintained transportation system to everyone. I feel like a robot sometimes when I write things like that, but it's true.

WSDOT Report Says Incident Response program making a difference

The Washington State Department of Transportation's quarterly performance report- the Gray Notebook- says timely response to highway collisions by WSDOT crews, State Patrol and emergency personnel translated into an estimated $10.7 million in savings for highway travelers so far this year.


In the first quarter of 2012 alone, the Incident Response program saved travelers and businesses money by reducing the time and gas they would have wasted stuck in traffic, while at the same time increasing highway safety. WSDOT’s Incident Response Teams (IRT) cost an estimated $1.2 million to operate per quarter, reporting a benefit-to-cost ratio of approximately 9-to-1 for the first quarter of the year.

So how many incidents did IRT respond to? What is the average time it takes them to clear an incident? And how many IRT crews are there? Here's your answers.

While Other Vehicle Fatalities Decline, Motorcycle Deaths Stay Same

While the number of all other motor vehicle fatalities declined in 2011, the number of motorcyclist deaths has remained the same as in recent years, according to a report released last week by the Governors Highway Safety Association.


The report says there's five reasons for that- or five issues to focus on in driving down motorcycle deaths.

Here's what they are.

Picture Posted On FB Drawing Angry Outcry

At $4 a gallon, I can't afford to spill gas either! Replacement babies can be bought on the internet these days though. Just kidding, don't get angry. This photo, taken by a Denver police officer, shows a crazy lack of concern for this child.

The Colorado Department of Transportation posted the photo to Facebook, where it's getting a ton of outraged comments.

The officer pulled the car over for making an impropert turn and found the toddler, a 14-year-old passenger and the driver all not wearing seat belts. The driver was ticketed obviously.

Sprague Ave. Swale Project Public Meeting

If you work or drive on Sprague Avenue between Park Road and the I-90 overpass, you will want to attend a community meeting on Wednesday, June 13 from 6:30-8:00 pm at Park Place Assisted Living Center. City of Spokane Valley Public Works staff will be on hand to discuss and get input on the proposed Sprague Avenue Swale Project.


Anticipated for construction during fall 2012 and/or spring 2013, the proposed project includes adding stormwater drainage swales along both sides of Sprague Avenue between Park Road and Thierman Road.
The swales would include city-maintained grasses and trees to help filter contaminants from stormwater and prevent them from entering the aquifer. In addition to upgrading sidewalk ramps for improved pedestrian access, the existing bike lane on the north side of Sprague would be upgraded.

The project also involves restriping Sprague Avenue from five lanes to four lanes to accommodate the improvements outlined above.
Input from the community is needed to help evaluate modifications to driveway approaches that may be needed for safety and to accommodate the swales, and to identify the best locations for trees in the swales. Of particular interest is information from representatives of businesses in the project area to plan for minimizing impacts and maintaining access while construction is under way.

Park Place Assisted Living is located at 511 S. Park Road in Spokane Valley. The meeting will be held in the Dining Room.

Dominoes Wants Pedestrians To Know Their Delivery Scooters Are There

Who would have thought Dominos would be worried about anything other than getting their pizzas delivered in 30 minutes or less? Apparently they are though because they've taken a creative approach to improving the safety of electric delivery scooters in the Netherlands. Because the quiet vehicles sometimes catch pedestrians unaware, with unfortunate results, the company added a quirky soundtrack to the motors.

Local Street Vacated For Traffic Calming Benefits

On his blog, Spokane City Councilmember Jon Snyder recounts how vacating a street will make it safer for buses to drop kids off at a local elementary school and how the surrounding neighborhood will receive an enormous benefit in traffic calming as a result. Here's the story.

What Constitutes A Service Animal?

What constitutes a 'service animal?' I ask because a friend recently told me about a fracas on her bus in Olympia when someone left a boa constrictor on the bus and a former bus driver has told me about struggles he's had with service animals. Everything from two service dogs on the same bus fighting to a man trying to get on the bus with a snake wrapped around his neck, which freaked the driver out.

Apparently I'm not the only one asking, because the Department of Justice is trying to define service animals and things may become more strict. The DOJ received thousands of comments about service animals last year when it announced plans to modify the definition to exclude wild animals including reptiles, rabbits, farm animals, amphibians, ferrets and rodents. The guidelines also would have eliminated as service animals those whose sole function is to provide emotional support, comfort, therapy, companionship, therapeutic benefits, or to promote emotional well-being.

The existing service animal law has no standards of training, requires no animal identification or certification and doesn't define what a service animal can be. But if businesses and public agencies fail to accommodate a disabled person's service animal, they sometimes are sued. The Seattle Times takes a closer look at this law that some people may be abusing.

Parking Garage Converted to Community Garden

There was a discussion over on the SRTC Facebook page last week about parking lots and if they are or aren't a blight on the face of downtown Spokane. One of the participants in that discussion sent me this article on how a parking garage built for the 1962 World's Fair is now being changed into a community garden. Pretty cool stuff. Got any good ideas on a structure or area in our community you think would make a nice spot for a garden. We talked about doing a container garden on the patio at our office but somehow it never took off.

Public Transit Ridership Numbers Way Up Across the Country

Public transit had a good couple of months to start the year. Transit agencies had record or near-record ridership in the first three months of the year, thanks to high gas prices and other factors, according to the American Public Transportation Association.

34 of 37 large cities saw increases in bus ridership and cities with rail systems also saw ridership numbers go up. This U.S.A Today article has the numbers, and the explanation.

Here are some pictures from yesterday's Spokane Summer Parkways in north Spokane's Chief Garry/Logan neighborhoods. The event closes down almost four miles of neighborhood streets to vehicle traffic and opens it to non-motorized modes of transportation such as walking, bicycling, skateboarding or other fun ways to get around.

In addition, there are other activities happening at parks along the route such as yoga, demonstrations, bounce castles, barbecues and much more. I had a table set up to talk to people about our Metropolitan Tranpsortation Plan, Horizon 2040. I heard some pretty interesting stuff too. Horizon 2040 is a long-term plan for transportation for all of Spokane County for the next 20+ years. So when I was asking folks yesterday how they would like to see our tranpsortation system develop in the coming years, I heard a lot of comments about expanding the hours of public transit to later in the evening, providing transit to Post Falls or Coeur d'Alene, come up with some better north-south routes and hurry up and finish the North Spokane Corridor.

I also spoke to people about their transportation experiences in general and heard some really cool stories. One gentleman told me that he has started a car-sharing program within his family. He rides his bike most of the time for transportation but when he needs a car, he shares it with his siblings. They bought a car together and share the price of maintenance and fuel and schedule in advance when they will use it, if they know ahead of time they will need it. He said so far it has worked very well excecpt for a couple times when more than one person needed the car at the same time.

Another older gentleman told me he used to be an urban planner back in the 1960's and his first assignment was to plan emergency escape routes out of cities and to shelters in the event of a nuclear bomb attack. He said he felt at the time it was a futile effort but it was his job so he did it.

All in all I heard some great input and always enjoy taking part in the Spokane Summer Parkways events. Another one is coming up Wednesday, June 20 on the south hill. Here's information on that event. And SRTC will be at that one too, so come find us and share your thoughts for the future of transportation with us.