Spokane Rock Products Inc. has submitted the low bid for what is now a $3.4 million project to convert a busy, eight-block stretch of Freya and Thor streets on either side of Interstate 90 into a one-way couplet.


Work on the project is expected to start this spring and to take about four months to complete, says Jim MacInnis, project engineer for the city of Spokane. Spokane Rock Products bid, which was among four submitted, was well below the citys original estimate for the project of more than $4 million, MacInnis says.


The project will transform both Thor and Freya streets into one-way, three-lane thoroughfares between roughly Sprague Avenue and Hartson Avenue. Thor, which will be the southbound leg of the new couplet, currently carries four lanes of traffic in that stretch, and Freya, which will be the northbound leg, currently has two lanes. Both currently are two-way streets.


Most of the work will be done south of Interstate 90, though a new traffic signal will be installed at the intersection of Freya and Second Avenue on the north side of the interstate, and a small portion of Second east of Freya will be realigned to the south so Second can share the same stop light with the westbound I-90 off-ramp there, says MacInnis. Currently, the off-ramp has only a stop sign at Freya, and the intersection is awkward because of its close proximity to the signaled intersection of Freya and Second.


That portion of the project is being paid for with a $300,000 federal grant aimed at eliminating hazards, says Ken Brown, principal design engineer on the project. Minor improvements also will be made on the eastbound exit off of I-90, which flows onto Third Avenue a few blocks west of its intersection with Thor.


The bulk of the project will take place on the heavily congested portions of Thor and Freya streets south of I-90, on the flat segments prior to its steep climb up the South Hill beginning at about Eighth Avenue.


The south end of the couplet will use Hartson as a crossover, by redirecting northbound traffic on Thor east onto Hartson, which will become a one-way, two-lane street for two blocks to Freya. At Freya, the two left-hand lanes of Hartson will bend onto Freya to create the northbound leg of the Thor-Freya couplet, while a right-hand lane will be created directing traffic to a stop sign on Freya, giving vehicles the option of turning south onto the two-way portion of Freya or crossing Freya and continuing east on Hartson. Traffic coming to the couplet from the south on Freya and from the east on Hartson will also have stop signs, creating a three-way stop where the Hartson crossover turns north on Freya.


At the southern end of the couplet Thors two right-hand lanes will continue up the hill as they do now, where Thor is two lanes in each direction with a meridian, while the third, left-hand lane will stop at Hartson, then proceed to the east on that crossover street.


On the north end of the couplet, a crossover essentially already is in place, because a street called Thor Place currently carries four lanes of traffic between Thor and Freya, connecting the two thoroughfares just south of Sprague. The project will convert Thor Place into a three-lane, one-way street to serve as the start of the southbound leg.


Work also will be done at the intersection of Thor Place and Freya, which is at about First Avenue.


Signal lights will remain as they are now on both Thor and Freya at Fifth Avenue, Third Avenue, and Second Avenue.


This is going to significantly improve the traffic flow around I-90 by night and day, says MacInnis.


In addition to the $300,000 grant targeted specifically to correct the accident-prone off-ramp lanes near Second and Freya, the city has received a $1 million grant from the federal Surface Transportation Urban Program to help finance the couplet, and $1.2 million from the state Transportation Improvement Board. The balance of the cost probably will be paid with what remains of a $15 million councilmanic bond passed in the fall of 2003.


Included in the project will be some roadway reconstruction on a four-block section of Fifth Avenue, between Ray and Freya streets. A similar project on Fifth between Pittsburg and Ray streets was completed last summer, using funds from that same city bond.


During construction of the couplet system, the city has asked the contractor to keep at least one lane open in each direction on the Thor-Freya corridor. If exceptions are necessary, traffic will only be further restricted during low traffic, late-night hours, says MacInnis.