Some business owners and residents who live along North Monroe Street in Spokane aren’t happy with the city’s plan to redesign the street from five lanes to three.
The North Monroe street project plan would convert a section of the street north of Indiana Avenue from four lanes with a center turn lane to two lanes with a center turn lane. The plan would allow for wider sidewalks and easier parking.
Bill Mullins of Bill's Import Auto is concerned that the current plan calls for Monroe to be shut down for nine months while construction is underway, saying “The Monroe street business aren’t opposed to improvements in safety and lighting and beatification, were all for that. There’s various plans to do - one side at a time, - but that plan was to shut down the entire street. And not every business is as fortunate as me to have secondary access, some of these businesses do not, there only access is on the Monroe street side.”
A group of business owners rallied Tuesday to voice concerns with the project. While the city of Spokane has formed a North Monroe Corridor Advisory Board with business owners and residents to get local input, there are no plans to put the project on hold.
Work is scheduled to begin in 2018.
