Washington state Department of Transportation officials say theyve told the city of Spokane and Washington State University at Spokane that the department must start design work this spring on either a new Trent Avenue bridge west of Hamilton Street or a realigned roadway that would eliminate the need for the bridge.


The DOT, the city, and state education officials have talked for some time about realigning Trent so it skirts the center of the Riverpoint Higher Education Park, giving the park more of a campus-like setting and bypassing the aging bridge. However, no route decisions have been made yet.


The DOT now says that because the bridge has reached the end of its planned useful life, the department needs to start construction in the 2001-2003 biennium of either a new bridge or the realigned route. To get a project under way in that biennium, design work has to start this spring, the department says.


The transportation agency has $8 million in federal money earmarked to replace the bridge, but realignment of Trent would cost $25 million, says Al Gilson, DOTs regional spokesman here. The city and WSU Spokane would have to come up with the extra money, he says.


If the city and WSU Spokane agree to pay part of the cost of the realignment project, design would begin on it this spring, Gilson says. Otherwise, the DOT will begin design of a new bridge then at the site of the old bridge.


Jerry Sinclair, a city program engineer, says the city has committed funds to support design work for a realigned route, and after that design work is completed would seek from the state Transportation Improvement Board part of the construction money needed for the project.


WSU Spokane, however, is still months away from deciding whether it would provide money for a route realignment, says campus Dean Bill Gray.


WSU Spokane recently began revising the Riverpoint Higher Education Park master plan, which last was updated in 1992, and it wants to complete that task before deciding whether to help fund a realignment of Trent.


To the DOT, however, time is an issue. The bridge now is on a year-to-year basis, says Darrel McCallum, a DOT project engineer. Its not getting worse any faster than was expected at this point, but with a big spring runoff, it could.


The DOT sends divers into the Spokane River each spring after high water has subsided to inspect the bridges pilings and check the riverbed near them for scouring. If the agency determines the bridge isnt safe, it will be closed, Gilson says. Average daily traffic counts collected by the DOT last year showed that at Division, Trent carried 11,000 vehicles a day, and at Hamilton it carried 13,000 vehicles a day. Trent doubles as state Route 290.


Gilson says the DOT has been in constant contact with the city and WSU Spokane, but we are still waiting for a firm financial commitment. We still need to all come to the same table and hammer out the funding details.


We can deal with their timeframe, Gray says of the DOTs spring deadline to start design on either the bridge or the realigned roadway.


Information gathered in meetings that WSU Spokane plans to hold this winter will be included in the new campus master plan to be completed early next spring, he says.


We go into the process hoping to unite the north and south campus now divided by Trent, but we want to find a solution for the whole neighborhood, Gray says.


Although so far all of the new construction on the Riverpoint campus has occurred north of Trent, the park also includes a lot of property to the south.


A WSU campus planner, the Riverpoint park facilities director, and a team of consultants will conduct a series of meetings this winter with neighboring businesses along Trent; officials from Gonzaga University, which is located north across the river from Riverpoint; and WSU Spokane students and faculty.


Possible realigned route


The proposed realignment of Trent would reroute the street to the south of its current path so it somewhat skirts the Riverpoint campus. The realigned route, which would be called South River Drive, would parallel the north side of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad tracks and connect with Trent east of Hamilton, says McCallum.


The west end of South River Drive would include a couplet that would connect with Spokane Falls Boulevard and Main Avenue. To the east, the realigned road would run underneath the Keefe Bridge, which carries Hamilton over the river, the BNSF tracks, and Sprague Avenue, and most likely would connect with Trent between Denver and Helena streets, although that point could be moved farther to the east, he says.