SPOKANE, Wash. — It's a familiar sight: the gap along Greene Street.
Now Spokane is one step closer to bridging north and south by bridging the Spokane River.
On Tuesday the next phase of Spokane's north-south corridor broke ground; the Spokane River Crossing will connect the project north of the river to the section near Spokane Community College.
It's a small chunk of a huge project that's already complete in some places.
"We can do big things when we come together," Marcus Riccelli, Washington State Representative from District 3, said.
Though it'll be a big part of the freeway, which will span from U.S. 395 to the interstate.
"You're talking about a twelve-minute run from I-90 all the way out to Wandermere. Try doing that in 45 minutes now," Jeff Holy, Washington State Senator from District, said. "This is gonna be a blessing."
The $68 million section represents a piece that almost didn't happen, at least not on this quick timeline. Early this year Governor Jay Inslee suggested pulling freeway funding for four years.
"I've not seen the community rally around something so strongly, so quickly and so vocally," Mike Volz, the state representative from District 6, said.
A bipartisan effort in both chambers of the state legislature kept that money flowing.
From local to state to federal leaders, the excitement for the next phase of the project was evident during Tuesday's ceremony.
Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward said the corridor will "instantly become an important shipping and logistics corridor that will be critical to the future of northeast Spokane and the north county area."
When done, the corridor will run 10.5 miles from I-90 to U.S. 2 at Farwell Road and U.S. 395 at Wandermere. The corridor broke ground in 2001 but has been in the city's sites for decades. So far, six miles have been built.
It's not just about improving commute times, Spokane County Commissioner Mary Kuney said. The completion of the corridor will also divert traffic from more congested roads.
"It's the environmentally friendly part of this because we're going to be getting people off Division, Market, Hamilton and stopping that stop-and-go traffic," Kuney said.
"Reimagining Division Street as a city street and not a state highway," fellow commissioner Al French said. "Being able to put high-capacity transit with bike lanes and pedestrian lanes on Division and Nevada-Hamilton. Reclaiming those corridors for the community."
The river crossing is expected to be done by 2025. The entire corridor, which WSDOT says is fully financed through the Connecting Washington revenue package, is expected to be complete in 2030.
"Take a look at how close this corridor is to I-90," Todd Trepanier, WSDOT's Eastern Region administrator, said. "It's just about done."
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