The city of Spokane has begun work on design plans for a project that it says will improve safety, enhance the streetscape, and reconfigure traffic on North Monroe Street. Although the $4.1 million project isn’t due to start construction until 2018, it already is facing sharp opposition from a number of business owners and residents in the area. 

Known as the North Monroe Corridor project, the project began as a part of the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Plan which was adopted via resolution by the Spokane City Council in 2014.

Plans for the project include a variety of improvements to a 1.1-mile section of Monroe that stretches from Indiana Avenue at the south to Kiernan Avenue, near the top of the Monroe Street hill, to the north. 

City officials maintain that a large group of North Monroe businesses, residents, and public agencies have been involved in the process of planning the project. However, some business owners complain that the notification and hearing process has been inadequate.

Particularly troublesome, some say, are rumblings that the project could shut down that stretch of Monroe entirely for close to a year, which they warn likely would cause some businesses there to close.

Monroe Street is known for being a busy commuter street, with what the city estimates to be between 17,000 and 18,300 cars a day along the section of road that’s to be reworked. The thoroughfare also hosts a variety of businesses. 

Gary Jarvis, owner of the Skipper’s Restaurant at 3320 N. Monroe, contends many of the businesses along the street have concerns about the project, concerns he says the city has ignored. 

“When this project was created, the city didn’t pursue input from business owners like they should have,” he asserts. “I have talked with many longtime owners on this street who say they were never spoken with at all.” 

Jarvis, whose restaurant sits at the base of the Monroe Street hill, says he agreed to serve as chairman of the Monroe Street Business Association.  

He says so far the organization has about 18 business owners. 

“We realize there will be certain aspects we can’t change about the design, but we’re hoping to work with the city on the things we can influence,” Jarvis says.

The project’s main focus is putting the street on what’s been described as a “road diet,” reconfiguring it from five lanes—two in each direction and one center lane—to three lanes, with one lane in each direction with a turn lane.

Additionally, the project would involve widening the street’s sidewalks to 10 feet on both sides, adding curb extensions, stormwater structures, trees, an updated traffic signal at the Monroe and Montgomery intersection, improved pedestrian crossings with refuge islands at four intersections, decorative pedestrian lighting, transit shelters, and benches.

Brandon Blankenagel, senior engineer with the city of Spokane, says the project is still in the design phase, which is expected to wrap up by the end of 2017, with construction beginning in the spring of 2018. 

“The construction timeline for the project will be determined through the design process,” says Blankenagel. “We’re already working with business owners, asking their input on concepts for the project. A full construction schedule with phases will come with more details.”

One main concern both business owners and residents share is the lane reduction, an aspect that likely can’t be changed due to the nature of the project’s funding. 

The project is being funded through three grants: a 2004 Federal Highway Safety Improvement grant for $3.8 million, a 2014 Washington State Bicyclist and Pedestrian Safety grant for $326,800, and a 2015 Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality grant for $475,000. 

City spokesman Brian Coddington says all of those grants must be used toward the project’s lane configurations. 

The Spokane Transit Authority received another $620,000 grant to incorporate high-performance transit, and consolidate transit stops on the corridor, and the city also plans to invest another $2.5 million to repave the street throughout the project area. 

Coddington says workshops to discuss the project started back in October of 2013, and included two parts, the first being to provide accurate information to the public, and the second to encourage involvement and input. 

As part of that input, an advisory board including Monroe area business owners, residents, and City Council members, was created last May to help engage the community in conversations about design and improvements.

Ed Ardiss, is a member of the advisory board and owner of Zip’s restaurant at 3204 N. Monroe.  Ardiss says he has been opposed to the project for several years now.

“The city is using safety improvements as an excuse to push this project through,” he contends. “I think there are other ways we can improve safety without creating a bottleneck. This project will cause problems for bus traffic and increase traffic in other areas of Spokane.” 

City plans for the project state that safety was a driver for the lane reduction, citing studies showing similar road diets have reduced collisions and speeding, and improved safety for pedestrians and motorists. 

This particular section of Monroe was shown to have had five pedestrian collisions over the course of five years, each resulting in injuries or death. During that same five-year period, the same stretch also had 23 angled collisions, three sideswipes, and four collisions with stationary objects.

“I don’t think any of us owners have an issue with making safety improvements,” says Jarvis. “But there are other ways of doing that other than a road diet. For one, they could reduce the speed limit and add lights, like they did for the Hillyard neighborhood.” 

Coddington says the city is comfortable moving ahead with the lane reconfiguration, as it has seen similar plans work successfully in other areas of the city.  

 “We’ve seen this strategy work well on East Sprague between Grant and Cook streets, slowing traffic and creating new businesses,” he says. “We also see it working well at 29th Avenue between Cedar and Grand.”

However, according to City of Spokane Traffic Flow Maps for 2015, average daily traffic counts for those two areas are significantly less than on North Monroe. That section of Sprague shows an average daily count of 12,600 to 15,200 cars, and 29th Avenue between Cedar and Grand shows from 7,500 to 13,200 cars daily.

Blankenagel says the city is just getting started on addressing issues, and plans for Spokane Transit Authority to be a main presenter at its next meeting, Sept. 8. 

“Our first few meetings have mostly been informational things like geometrics, stormwater requirements and regulations, level of service, and traffic modeling,” he says. “There have been a number of questions related to those topics that we’re working to answer.”

Overall, perhaps the most pressing issue for Monroe business owners is the project’s proposed construction schedule, which some worry would involve shutting down the entire section of the street for nine months or more.

“Nothing has been confirmed yet, but that’s what they’re saying is the preferred method of construction,” says Ardiss. “That would devastate businesses on this street, so we need to have a lot better plan than that.” 

Marlene Feist, city utilities department spokeswoman, says it is because of these concerns that the city is getting a head start on construction schedule discussions.

 “We haven’t determined how long the project will take, and a construction schedule would usually be generated much further into the process,” she says. “But because of the concerns businesses owners have mentioned, we’ve begun planning meetings so we can start trying to work out those issues.”

Feist says while it’s true that shutting down the street throughout the process would be the fastest way to complete the project, that doesn’t necessarily make the most sense. 

“We know some business and property owners have legitimate concerns about the impact of construction, and we want to get their input so we can find the best possible route for everyone,” she says. “We hope to know more soon, but until the design is more specific, we can’t finalize a construction schedule.” 

Troy Varness, general manager at Fred’s Appliance, a growing, locally owned chain that has its main store at 2525 N Monroe, and who also is a member of the Monroe Street Business Association, says owners also are concerned for their employees.  

 “More important to us is how it would affect our employees,” he says. “If they’re not being paid, they’ll leave.”

For his part, Jarvis says ongoing construction for almost a year would have severe impacts on businesses, with a lack of customers leaving owners with no way of paying operating costs, leases, or employees. 

“We’re hoping they’ll consider allowing for at least some access to Monroe during construction,” he says. “I’ve already heard several owners are considering not renewing their leases otherwise.” 

He contends that businesses that count on multiple deliveries each week from larger semitrailer trucks also potentially won’t be able to obtain supplies, and those businesses without side street access will have nowhere for customers to come in.

“I would like to see the project put on hold so they can take the time to revisit some of these issues,” Jarvis says.

Coddington says the city has created a group to begin taking input on the construction process, in an effort to help decide how best to sequence it. 

“There’s a reason we continue gathering input for several years,” he says. “This is an ongoing process. Right now, it’s too early to tell how construction will be planned, but those details should work themselves out over the next year.”