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The wait for work to begin at Havana Street for a new overpass near the rail yards may be about over.
The city of Spokane – which is in charge of the $20.4 million project – is set to begin this summer after years of delay. But representatives from the city visited the Spokane Valley City Council on Tuesday to try to clear up a bit of bureaucracy before any dirt is moved.
Spokane officials are hoping to get an interlocal agreement signed with Spokane Valley’s government to allow for eminent domain action to take place to acquire property needed for the project.
While Havana – the boundary between the two municipalities -- lies within the city of Spokane, the property in question is within the city. Condemnation proceedings are required, according to legal staff with Spokane, in order to acquire right of way.
“We need to file a condemnation action in order to keep on schedule,” said James Richmond of the Spokane city attorney’s office. He added that the property owners are aware of the pending action, and it’s more of a legal formality.
While the council didn’t take formal action Tuesday, they did agree to consider the matter and put it on a future agenda.
The Havana overpass project has been in the works since 2002 and is part of the overall Bridging the Valley effort, which would eliminate area at-grade railroad crossings. The Havana plan is the first “official” Bridging the Valley project and deemed to be one of the most crucial. Havana is blocked between Trent and Broadway about 17 hours a day by trains, which are switched at Burlington Northern Santa Fe’s Yardley facility.
Work is expected to start in July and be finished by October 2011.
“It’s a fairly extensive project,” said John Mercer of the city of Spokane.
The overpass will be similar to that of Fancher’s to the east. Many motorists use that north-south route over the tracks and avoid Havana altogether due to the high number of trains that oftentimes have over 100 cars and travel at 5 mph through the yards.
“Many times I take the shortcut through there – if I can see I can get through,” said Council Member Diana Wilhite.
Bridging the Valley calls for grade separations or closures of 75 railroad/roadway crossings in this area. The idea is to keep cars separated from trains altogether by constructing overpasses and underpasses at the most heavily used crossings.
Some crossings that don’t receive much traffic will be closed altogether – Vista Road south of Trent is one such example.
The other part of Bridging the Valley involves aligning the existing Union Pacific Railroad mainline with BNSF’s tracks, thus eliminating the trains near Pines and the freeway and through the heart of Millwood.
Funding, however, is always an issue and has delayed projects in the past. Most of the money comes from the federal government.
In the future, improvements are expected at the Barker, Park and Pines Road crossings.
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By
Mike Huffman
