 |
Autumn may be a few months away in the city of Spokane Valley, but orange has still emerged as a popular color along Sprague Avenue over the past few weeks.
Call it the season of the safety cone.
A resurfacing project along the city’s main corridor began July 24 and is expected to last until the early part of September. A trio of intersections on Sprague – at Pines, McDonald and Evergreen – have also experienced facelifts this summer.
Business along the construction route, like Casey’s Place, a sandwich shop at the corner of Sprague and Sullivan have experienced a slowdown as portions of the surrounding roadways are closed or diverted. Jenny Somers, the manager at Casey’s Place, said the restaurant has seen around a 30-percent drop in business since work began.
“Everyone has been pretty understanding but it has had an impact,” Somers said.
The recent closure of Evergreen at Sprague – Evergeen is open to business traffic but is shut down at Sprague – has had a particularly negative effect on commerce, according to Somers and neighboring shop owners. Casey’s Place is running a “construction special” – $5 for a half-sandwich, drink and chips – and emphasizing its delivery menu while work on the street continues.
“The construction is going at a good pace, but we’ve been really slow,” Somers said.
To the west of Evergreen at the corner of Blake and Sprague, Rusty’s Fruit Stand is operating in a new area after shifting from its home of 12 years due to the overhaul of the Sprague/McDonald intersection earlier this summer.
Because of the seasonal nature of the business, Rusty’s was not notified of the project like other commercial locations along Sprague.
Proprietor Rusty Keele gave credit to the city of Spokane Valley as well as Vera Water and Power, Waste Management and Rigby Electric and for helping him relocate the stand in a matter of days back in the early part of May. Keele also expressed gratitude to Tombari Properties and Sterling Realty for helping him work out a new lease.
“It was a bummer I didn’t find out earlier, but the city really did a good job of making sure everything worked out,” Keele said. “It could have been a drawn-out ordeal.”
Keele said the lagging economy and road construction have contributed to “one of the slower years” the stand has experienced since opening at University and Sprague in 1992.
The business will remain open through October when it will feature the annual pumpkin crop.
“Things have been down, but I’m optimistic,” Keele said.
Most of the staff and all of the vehicles from the office of Valley Auto Liquidators have moved to a lot at Sprague and Flora while renovations are taking place at the intersection of Evergreen and Sprague. Sales representative Brandon Collins said business has suffered because of the roadwork, but the company hopes to be back at its original site by Aug. 27, the date set by the city for completion of the intersection.
The junction at Sprague and Pines was the first phase of the corridor overhaul this summer, beginning on May 11 and wrapping up on June 26. McDonald and Sprague followed with a construction schedule that spanned from June 22 to July 24. Work on the Evergreen intersection began July 27.
The intersection upgrades were partially funded through contributions from the Spokane Transit Authority and include the replacement of asphalt with concrete and improvements to pedestrian walkways and stormwater systems.
The refurbishing of Sprague benefited from a $2.89 million grant through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Shane Arlt, project manager with the city of Spokane Valley, said the two-mile upgrade from University to Evergreen was already on the municipal road priority list and would have taken place even without the federal grant. Now, Arlt said, city money earmarked for the work can be used for maintenance and other projects.
Arlt said the next phase of Sprague involves the removal of asphalt – likely to start on Aug. 24 and take between five to six days – followed by repaving. The process will begin at University and move east in half-mile segments with one or two lanes of traffic being closed in both directions. Despite scheduling setbacks due to last week’s rainstorms, Arlt said the goal is to have the project finished by Sept. 4.
|
|
By
Craig Howard
