The new Francis Avenue bridge is now open to through traffic, says Darrell McCallum, the Washington State Department of Transportation project engineer for the development.

    The state opened one westbound lane and one eastbound lane on Nov. 16, McCallum says, and the project should be completed in full by the summer of 2014.

    The nearly $14 million project began in the fall of 2012 and is being paid for with state and federal transportation funds, McCallum says. The new 450-foot bridge, he says, replaces the former 160-foot structure and will enable the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway and North Spokane Corridor to pass underneath.

    There is still work to be done around the bridge, however, McCallum says.  

    "On the bridge itself, we have to put on the pedestrian rail and fencing and do some final striping," McCallum says. He also says there will be signal work performed at the Freya Street and Market Street intersections at each end of the bridge, as well as curbing and sidewalk work.

    Graham Construction Inc., of Spokane, is the general contractor on the project.

    The opening of the bridge removes the temporary detour onto which cars had been rerouted, which required them to pass over the nearby railroad tracks.  

    The project is the first of six construction phases needed to complete the NSC between Francis and the Spokane River. Once completed, the nearly $2 billion freeway will connect Interstate 90 at the south end to U.S. 395 in the north Wandermere area.