SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane’s population growth is bringing more travelers to the city’s streets. With an ever-growing construction season and a higher rate of traffic accidents, officials are trying to find ways to make the roads friendlier for everyone as cars, trucks, bikers and pedestrians struggle to share the road. And there’s one trend catching the eye of Spokanites: Walkability.
Walkability is often associated with the 15-minute city: Can you walk to a shop, the bank, or a park 15 minutes from where you live? Anyone can say that about the downtown area. However, the city sports an urban sprawl and is often separated into districts, like Garland, South Hill and North Spokane. If we’re talking accessibility, how does someone go from the Garland Theater to Manito Park in 15 minutes?
New efforts between the city’s urban planners and the Spokane Transit Authority could lead to a more accessible, safer and walkable city.
Spokane city planners put safety as a top priority for a more walkable city. The Washington Traffic Safety Commission (WTSC) is seeing an increasing pattern of traffic death rates each year. The agency reported 810 traffic deaths in 2023 alone, reaching a 33-year high since the agency’s creation. WTSC reported 173 deaths in Washington’s Inland Northwest region in 2023. Nationwide statistics like these sounded the alarm across the country, leading to more state and federal funding for urban planning projects, aiming to keep travelers safe. Spokane received $9.6 million in December 2023 to move forward with road safety projects in the next several years.
"People make mistakes when they're driving, walking or bicycling. The goal is that those mistakes aren't fatal or cause serious harm,” said Spokane assistant planner Colin Quinn-Hurst. “It's redesigning our transportation network to make the consequences of a mistake less severe.”
Quinn-Hurst is a Spokane urban planner involved in Spokane’s Vision Zero, which aims to reduce traffic deaths to zero by 2042. The project targets Spokane’s traffic accident hot spots by studying what needs to be added to keep people safe. Some areas could get a new bike lane or new connections to existing hiking trails.
“It's just giving everyone a piece of the road so that there's a safe sidewalk, a safe place to bike, a safe place to access the bus, and a safe place to drive. And you can do all those things efficiently,” said Quinn-Hurst.
Another piece of the puzzle is the city’s bus system. The Spokane Transit Authority (STA) serves Spokane and other parts of the Inland Northwest region. They’re moving forward with their five-year plan to expand the city’s bus services and meet Spokane’s growing public transportation demand in 2024.
Karl Otterstrom, Chief Planning Officer for the Spokane Transit Authority, worked for STA for more than 15 years. He’s also a long-time public transportation user.
“Transit is fundamentally the extension of the pedestrian range,” said Otterstrom “We are extending the range of the pedestrian through transit. That's the key thing we do.”
STA’s City Line, Spokane’s bus rapid transit line reached 500,000 rides just ten months after its inaugural ride. The organization is also eyeing double-decker buses to make room for more riders on their Eastern Washington University route and adding frequent bus service on Nevada to accommodate the route’s popularity. The goal is to get as many people moving safely through Spokane streets. So maybe it’ll take longer than 15 minutes to go from the Garland District to Manito Park, but STA’s ongoing work shows their commitment to giving riders peace of mind, no matter their destination.
“Transit will be cool as Spokane is cool. And we are cool together,” said Otterstrom. “We're creating those neat places to connect.”
That’s what these projects aim to do: connect people. It’s not about creating frustration for drivers. These projects are a way to help people get to where they want to be, safely. And maybe the best way to get there is to walk.
Eastern Washington University Professor Jason Scully contributed knowledge on the subject of walkability in the Inland Northwest.
DOWNLOAD THE KREM SMARTPHONE APP
DOWNLOAD FOR IPHONE HERE | DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID HERE
HOW TO ADD THE KREM+ APP TO YOUR STREAMING DEVICE
ROKU: Add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching for KREM in the Channel Store.
Fire TV: Search for "KREM" to find the free app to add to your account. Another option for Fire TV is to have the app delivered directly to your Fire TV through Amazon.
Apple TV: Search "Spokane News from KREM" in the Apple store or follow this link.
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email webspokane@krem.com.
