The Spokane County engineering and roads division has awarded a $1.1 million contract to Spokane Rock Products Inc. to widen and repave a half-mile section of Thomas Mallen Road on the West Plains.

County Engineer Bob Brueggeman says the portion of Thomas Mallen that's to be improved extends between Electric Avenue and Geiger Boulevard, just south of Spokane International Airport but north of Interstate 90.

Brueggeman says the road project is being funded through a tax-increment financing (TIF) district that was set up about six years ago to improve public infrastructure along the I-90 corridor on the West Plains.

The upcoming project on Thomas Mallen will widen the road from a narrow, two-lane roadway to include a continuous two-way center turn lane, Brueggeman says. The county also plans to install curbing and a sidewalk on the east side of the street.

Brueggeman says construction will begin later this spring and should be finished before the end of the year. No businesses or residences are located on the stretch of road that's to be upgraded, so the construction will have a minimal impact on motorists, he says.

Brueggeman says this is the second project that's being funded through the TIF district, which encompasses a sizable portion of the West Plains. The district roughly is bordered by the airport to the north, Hallett Road to the south, and by Hayford and Spotted roads to the east and west, respectively.

The first TIF-funded project was similar in the scope of work to the upcoming project, Brueggeman says. Completed two years ago, that project involved building a new road, called Dowdy Road, that's also located between Geiger Boulevard and Electric, near the southeast edge of the airport. Dowdy is about a mile east of Thomas Mallen, he says.

The TIF district was set up to pay for a maximum of $30 million in infrastructure improvements, Brueggeman says. He says there aren't any other planned projects that would be funded through the TIF.