Spokane County expects to start work this spring on a multiyear, $35.6 million project to widen and reconfigure the heavily used Bigelow Gulch Road route that serves as a bypass between Spokanes North Side and the Valley.


That about 8.5-mile route runs between the intersection of Havana Street and Bigelow Gulch, at the edge of Hillyard, to the intersection of Wellesley Avenue and Sullivan Road in Spokane Valley. Currently, its a two-lane thoroughfare that, toward its eastern end, includes a series of turns on Forker and Progress roads to reach Wellesley Avenue. The latest traffic count on the westbound lane at Bigelows intersection with Argonne Road is more than 12,000 vehicles a day.


The seven-phase project includes widening the route to include four lanes and a median, forging a new stretch of roadway for 1.34 miles from a point near Palmer Road east to the point where Weile Avenue, as an east turning extension of Thierman Road, connects with Bigelow Gulch, and building a second new stretch of roadway from the intersection of Sullivan and Wellesley north and west to Progress, eliminating a couple of jogs in the route. The project is expected to be completed in 2008, says Greg Wells, supervising technician for Spokane County.


The first phase of work is slated to begin May 1, and will include rebuilding the intersection of Bigelow Gulch and Argonne Road, about midway along the route. Including turning lanes, the new intersection will have six lanes on both Argonne and Bigelow Gulch, says Wells. The cost is estimated at $3.2 million.


Other than for the first phase, the project is undergoing an environmental assessment, and a 45-day public comment period could begin this month or in February, Wells says. The environmental assessment includes the preferred alternative described in this story, and six other alternative alignments.


A second phase of work could get going this summer and run concurrently with phase one. It would include widening about two-thirds of a mile of Bigelow Gulch from Havana to the east. Havana is where Francis Avenue becomes Bigelow Gulch going east. That work is expected to cost $2 million.


Wells anticipates that both those phases will go out for bid this spring.


The other five phases of work will include widening Bigelow Gulch east nearly six miles to where it meets Forker, widening Forker from there south about a mile to Progress, and widening about a quarter mile of Progress south and east to where the second stretch of new roadway will begin. That new roadway is scheduled to be built in 2007 and will run behind East Valley Middle School about three quarters of a mile from Progress south and east to Sullivan at Wellesley.


A new stop signal is planned for the intersection of Sullivan and Wellesley, replacing a three-way stop, says Chad Coles, plans and contract engineer for Spokane County.


Construction delays may be experienced during the project, but the overall plan is to keep at least one lane open in each direction at most times, says Coles.


We have enough money to finance the project pretty easily, says Bill Hemmings, program development engineer and grant writer for Spokane County.


The county has received $12.1 million in state and federal grants for the project, and expects to receive another $6.3 million federal grant and $2.2 million state grant, giving it $20.6 million in outside funds. It also will earmark $8.8 million in county road tax money and $5 million in real estate excise tax money for the project, Wells says. He says the project also already has been approved for a $1 million low-interest loan from a state public-works trust, and is in an excellent position to receive up to $10 million more in loans from the same low interest loan fund if some of the other money doesnt come in.