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Residents of Orchard Prairie, a rolling rural terrain in north Spokane County, will tell you they have no problem with efforts to improve safety conditions along Bigelow Gulch Road.
They’re just not ready for what some say would resemble an urban highway.
The area, characterized by rustic farms, roaming elk and flourishing wetlands, was first homesteaded in 1879 with a school being constructed in 1894. The one-room schoolhouse is still part of the Orchard Prairie School District.
Residents like Don Hamilton claim a project to widen a portion of Bigelow Gulch Road, a main connector between North Spokane and Spokane Valley, into four lanes with a center median translates into “massive highway project.”
Hamilton and others argue that the design, overseen by lead agency Spokane County, has gone forward without a critical environmental impact study that would determine the long-range effect on the surrounding ecosystem.
Such a study, Hamilton said, “would be more comprehensive” than the environmental assessment which eventually resulted in a determination of “No Significant Impact” by the Federal Highway Administration in April 2008.
Residents contend that the project essentially represents a less costly replacement for the North Spokane Corridor, a proposed super highway that has stalled in recent years due to funding challenges. Overall cost of the corridor, often referred to as the north-south freeway, has been estimated at $2.1 billion.
“This (Bigelow Gulch) project is a de facto completion of the north-south freeway,” Hamilton said.
With help from the Center for Justice, Hamilton, his wife Lorna St. John and the Prairie Protection Association have filed a complaint in U.S. District Court against the FHA and the U.S. Department of Transportation asking for an injunction against further construction until an environmental impact study is conducted.
“I don’t believe this huge project has been adequately studied,” Hamilton said.
The overall expansion of the roadway includes 8.2 miles from the Bigelow Gulch/Havana intersection west to the convergence of Sullivan Road and Wellesley Avenue in the city of Spokane Valley. The route is well-traveled by freight trucks moving between industrial sites in north Spokane and Spokane Valley.
Chad Coles, an assistant construction engineer with Spokane County and the Bigelow Road project manager, said Bigelow Gulch was not built to handle the current level of traffic. Narrow lanes and lack of shoulder areas continue to be additional concerns.
“There’s a lot of damage on that road,” said “It’s not a strong section. There’s a lot of rutting and edge breaking.”
Coles acknowledged that residents are “not happy” with the current plans for the roadway, but maintained the upgrade will make a positive difference.
“I know they would like to see it safer but they don’t think this is the solution,” Coles said.
In July 2007, the News Herald reported that “environmental concerns had slowed the start of the project,” increasing the overall cost from $34 million to $56 million. Last week, Coles confirmed the sum remains at $56 million, a total that includes design work, right-of-way purchases and construction.
Last month, work began on a short section of Bigelow Gulch near Havana. One of a half-a-dozen phases of the entire project, the construction will address some 3,000 feet of roadway, or less than one-tenth of the overall renovation. Workers will replace the existing two lanes with four lanes and a median.
The city of Spokane Valley’s segment of the project includes the final phase at Wellesley and Sullivan, a portion that will dissect several athletic fields between East Valley High School and East Valley Middle School.
Steve Worley, Spokane Valley capital projects engineer, said the city’s contribution to the work amounts to $55,000. He said city officials “hope to have more dialogue with Spokane County about the project’s impact on Sullivan Road.”
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By
Craig Howard
