The city of Spokane is considering building an arterial that would connect U.S. 195 in southwest Spokane and the Moran Prairie on Spokanes South Hill.


Tentatively called the Hatch Road bypass project, the arterial would be an alternate route designed to ease growing traffic concerns on the steep, two-lane Hatch Road, which carries traffic between 57th Avenue on the South Hill and the Latah Creek and Hangman Valley areas.


Jerry Sinclair, a senior engineer with the citys capital-programs department, says the city plans to add the proposed, $8 million project to its six-year road-construction plan, which is expected to be approved by the Spokane City Council in June. The project would be conducted in partnership with Spokane County and the Washington state Department of Transportation, since it would involve U.S. 195 and would be built mostly on land outside the city.


The city is seeking $3.1 million in federal funding for the project.


That request, which was made to the states congressional delegation last month, included $300,000 for a study of the bypass, $800,000 for design, $1 million for right-of-way purchases, and $1 million for improvements to Hatch Road itself.


Sinclair says the city is considering the project in anticipation of a Spokane Regional Transportation Council study of South Spokane, which is expected to be completed later this year. He says preliminary information from that effort suggests demand for an alternate route to Hatch Road.


Weve had enough feedback that we think its a project the citizens would like us to look at, Sinclair says.


While design work hasnt started on the potential bypass project, the city envisions a road that would start at U.S. 195 near the Hatch Road bridge, run east up out of the valley to the Moran Prairie area, and connect either to Freya Street or the Old Palouse Highway.


The road would be between 1 1/2 and 2 miles long, Sinclair says.


The proposed Hatch Road bypass resembles what could have been part of a larger beltway that was envisioned in the early 1990s and would have encircled much of Spokane. Talk of a proposed beltway, however, eventually took a back seat to more pressing road needs.


Sinclair says the Hatch Road bypass proposal isnt seen as part of any larger effort.


Its not in the same category as bypasses talked about in previous years, he says.


The citys interest in the project primarily involves easing traffic flow on Hatch Road and is an alternative to expanding Hatch itself.


Adding lanes to Hatch would be costly, Sinclair says, because it would involve buying and demolishing a number of homes built along the busy roadway. The city hasnt considered that option.


The city would, however, like to add a bicycle lane to Hatch in the near future.