The city of Spokane Valley says it plans to design this year an extension of Indiana Avenue, east of the Spokane Valley Mall, that will create an arterial, or perhaps a couplet on the north side of Interstate 90 to connect it to Mission Avenue.

The resulting project, which possibly could be built next year, would link residential developments in Greenacres and Liberty Lake with the retail and commercial area surrounding the mall.

The estimated $2.6 million project would extend Indiana to the northeast from its current terminus east of Sullivan Road.

The new section of Indiana would intersect with either Mission Avenue or Flora Road, near the current intersection of those two streets, says Steve Worley, a senior engineer for Spokane Valley. Mission Avenue, in turn, would carry traffic to and from the growing Greenacres and Liberty Lake neighborhoods north of I-90.

Worley says the city has eyed such a project for some time, in part because property owners have sought such a connection. Currently, many Greenacres residents east of the mall frequently cross I-90 on Flora Road then travel west on Broadway Avenue and cross back over I-90 at Sullivan Road to reach that major retail area, he says. There's no freeway on-ramp from Flora, but a bridge carries traffic over it there. Extending Indiana would dilute that traffic, reducing congestion in the growing Greenacres area and at the busy Sullivan-I-90 interchange, Worley says.

Worley says the city received a $1.5 million grant for the project last year from the Washington state Transportation Improvement Board, and private developers who own land surrounding the proposed project have agreed to donate rights of way needed for the road.

The city, in turn, is working with the developers, including Centennial Properties Inc., of Spokane, which owns about 30 acres of land through which the road will pass, to design the arterial to fit with future development plans on that private property.

Hanson Industries Inc., of Spokane Valley, also is contributing right of way and additional funds to help pay for the project.

Bob Smith, of Centennial Properties, declines to comment for now on what the company might develop there, but Worley says that part of the road project likely will be designed as a couplet to accommodate development in between the two one-lane, one-way streets that would comprise the couplet.

The road would have bicycle lanes and sidewalks, and a roundabout at the new intersection with Mission or Flora, Worley says.

Centennial Properties currently is collaborating with Liberty Lake-based Greenstone Corp. on a 900-acre mixed-use development called the River District at Liberty Lake.

The connection between Indiana and Mission would provide an arterial link to Spokane Valley from that development.

Worley says the city of Spokane Valley will contribute about $300,000 to the project.