Construction season is starting, and the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) has its hands full with over $600 million of road construction projects expected to continue or scheduled to begin in Spokane County alone.
Major projects include continued work on the North Spokane Corridor, the completion of the multiyear Post Street Bridge replacement and Bigelow Gulch-Forker Road urban connector projects, and the start of the Pines Road/BNSF grade separation project in Spokane Valley.
“It’s pretty consistent with the last couple years,” Kirstin Davis, communications manager for the city of Spokane, said of the current construction season’s planned work.
Multiple projects for the $1.67 billion North Spokane corridor are already underway or expected to begin this year.
A new segment of highway stretching south from the North Spokane Corridor’s current end location at Columbia Avenue to the Spokane River is being constructed. Construction for this project is valued at about $60 million.
The Spokane River Crossing project, which has an estimated cost of $91 million, is well underway and is expected to be completed by late 2025.
Max J. Kuney Co. is the contractor for the Columbia-to-Spokane River project.
The Sprague Avenue to Spokane River Stage 2 project will build a stretch of highway from Alki Avenue to Mission Avenue, with a partial interchange at Trent Avenue. The project has an estimated cost of $224 million.
Spokane has approximately $60 million in road-related projects slated to begin this year and an additional $75 million in projects that are carrying over from the past several years, according to Davis.
One of those carry-over projects is the Post Street Bridge replacement, which is expected to be completed in early June. The $21 million bridge project began in 2020.
In east central Spokane, the second phase of the multiyear Thor-Freya corridor project is underway, as crews reconstruct four intersections with concrete at Second Avenue and Thor Street, Third Avenue and Thor, Second and Freya Street, and Third and Freya.
In North Spokane County, the Little Spokane River Drive Bridge just west of Woolard Road will be replaced this year and will take six months to complete.
The replacement project will cost about $3 million and will be handled by Razz Construction Inc.
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Source: Spokane Journal
