The city of Spokane has awarded $1.3 million in contracts for storm-water and sewer projects here, one of which will close Aubrey L. White Parkway, in Riverside State Park, to vehicular traffic from mid-February to May.

In that project, MDM Construction Inc., of Hayden, Idaho, has won a contract for a $900,000 project to replace two sewer mains along Aubrey L. White Parkway just northwest of the city limits.

Meanwhile, Mountain Crest Enterprises, of Mead, has won a $420,000 contract to install an urban storm-water runoff system along Broadway Avenue between Oak and Elm streets.

In the sewer project, MDM will replace plastic sewer pipes between Rifle Club Road and the entrance to the Bowl and Pitcher campground with 10-inch and 12-inch iron pipes. The work is expected to begin in mid-February and to be completed in May, says city spokeswoman Ann Deasy.

Separately, in the storm-water project, Mountain Crest will install a total of 28 storm-water planters on both sides of Broadway between Oak and Elm.

The planters each will be about four feet wide and 16 feet long and will be level with the ground so they will collect water from the gutters.Some storm water pollutants, like nitrogen and phosphorus, will enhance the "storm garden" plant growth in the planters, and the soil in the planters will filter the water. Some water will drain out of the bottom of the planters, and soil organisms will remove pollutants from it.

If more storm water fills a planter than it can retain, the overflow will go back into the gutter and flow downstream to the next planter, Deasy says.

The city is receiving $382,000 from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to help pay for that project, under the Washington state Department of Ecology's clean water fund. That project is expected to begin in April, and to be completed in June, Deasy says.