Spokane County will begin in March the design phase of a $2.2 million project to improve a section of Market Street, after recently securing a grant to help fund the project, says Tim Schwab, plans and contract engineer with the county. 

The project involves a mile-long stretch of Market Street, from Houston Avenue to Lincoln Road, just north of Hillyard, Schwab says. The county will be designing the project in-house, he says. 

The county will use a Washington state Transportation Improvement Board urban arterial grant and some of its own funds to pay for the project, Schwab says. The TIB is providing 60 percent of the funds, and the county will contribute the rest, he says. 

The project will entail reducing the street from four lanes to three, Schwab says, with one travel lane in each direction and a turn lane between them. 

Also, Schwab says, “We’re going to put bike lanes on each side.” 

The county also will be installing a 5.5-foot-wide sidewalk on the east side of the street, and replacing some segments of sidewalk on the west side. Curb ramps also will be built to meet federal Americans with Disabilities Act standards. 

The affected stretch of Market also will be resurfaced, Schwab says. 

“The current plan is for a three-inch overlay, so we’ll grind down three inches of pavement off and fix whatever needs to be fixed on the pavement at that level, and then put new pavement on top,” he says. 

The project is necessary to replace the worn-out pavement.

Schwab also says that traffic has decreased on the street, making it possible for the county to reduce the lanes and add bike lanes.

“The traffic volumes have decreased significantly because of the (North Spokane Corridor),” he says. “Also, further north of this project it goes to a similar type of road with two lanes and a turn lane.”

Construction isn’t slated to start until next year, Schwab says. 

“At the earliest, it would be 2016 construction season, but that could easily change to 2017,” he says. “There’s some easements that we’ll need to acquire on this.”

Schwab says the county plans to meet with businesses and residents there. 

“We’re just looking forward to working with the businesses there and doing this project and doing something that works for them,” he says. 

The county currently is working on a similar project on Market Street in Mead, farther to the north, Schwab says. That project, estimated at about $2.5 million, also is a TIB grant project, he says.