The city of Spokane Valley's plan to extend Indiana Avenue about a half mile east of Sullivan Road is moving forward after going through a minor redesign.

The design was intended to address concerns that some community members had about the project deterring access to a business and to the Centennial Trail. The Spokane Valley City Council postponed for two weeks a vote to award a contract for the project because of those concerns, but early this month, it awarded a contract of $1.05 million to Spokane Rock Products Inc. for the project's original scope of work, says city spokeswoman Carolbelle Branch.

The project will extend Indiana from east of Sullivan to the intersection of Mission Avenue and Flora Road. The new section of the road will feature a couplet-like configuration with each direction of traffic separated around an oval-shaped, 6.3-acre plot of land. The new section of street will connect Indiana to the intersection of Mission and Flora at a new roundabout that will be constructed there.

The eastbound section of the new road will be named Indiana Parkway and the westbound section will be called Mission Parkway, Branch says.

To address the concerns some citizens had about the road's couplet design, Spokane Valley's senior capital projects engineer Steve Worley says the project now will include a connecting section of street at the northeast end between the two one-way streets. The city plans to soon issue a change order to the original project contract to include that connecting roadway, which will be called Steen Parkway, Worley says. He says the estimated cost of construction for that piece of road is about $23,000 and that Spokane Rock Products will do the work.

Branch says the concern that prompted the addition of the 250-foot-long, two-way connecting street was that the design of the separated road would discourage access to a business, Appleway Florist and Greenhouses Inc., which would front the one-way Mission Parkway.

In addition to that issue, there was public concern that the project would prevent access to an unofficial trailhead for the Centennial Trail, located at the end of Mission Avenue where it meets the Spokane River.

"There was a rough draft of a concept of some development that could take place, and in that it looked like the access to the trailhead would be moved or blocked," Branch says.

She adds that the drawing was conceptual, and never an actual plan for developing the area. The trailhead at the end of Mission, which is city land, will remain open during and after construction, though there could be minor detours to it during the project, she says.

As part of the project's original design, the city included a small leg coming off of Mission Parkway, the westbound side of the extension, to provide additional access to the Centennial Trail.

The land on which the new streets will be constructed is owned by Centennial Properties Inc., of Spokane. That company donated some of the land needed for right-of-way for the new street, Branch says.

Worley adds that the company also has agreed to donate the land needed for the connecting street that was added to the original project.

Centennial Properties is owned by Cowles Co., which also owns the Journal of Business.

Hanson Industries Inc., of Spokane Valley, and Spokane County also donated other sections of land for right-of-way on the west end of the project, Branch says.

The extension of Indiana will offer opportunities for development in the area, and also will provide a new route of access from the east to the Spokane Valley Mall, Branch says, adding that the 6.3-acre plot of land between the one-way streets is sizeable enough for commercial development.

Spokane Rock Product's bid came in well below the project engineer's estimate of just under $1.7 million. The project is being funded mostly by the Washington state Transportation Improvement Board, and also with some funds from the city of Spokane Valley, Branch says.

The changes to the project have pushed back its construction schedule, and now work is set to begin in early May and should finish in July, Branch says.

The intersection of Mission and Flora will be closed to traffic during the last five weeks of the project, she says. Traffic will be rerouted to other nearby intersections, but local access will remain available.