The city of Spokane today [Wednesday] announced its construction schedule for this year.
Mayor Nadine Woodward says it includes about $70 million worth of infrastructure work that was already planned. She says it’s adding an additional $10 million in street improvements.
“Public infrastructure projects are important to our city’s economy every year, but especially during an economic downturn. Typically, $1 million in public construction investment equals about 10 to 20 good-paying jobs in our community. So this is more important now than ever before," Woodward said.
Work began Wednesday on one of several planned “grind and overlay” street projects, on Northwest Boulevard. City officials say, while traffic counts are lighter, they’ll tackle projects on the traditionally busier streets.
“I would just ask that when we start returning to normal again that please, when you’re inconvenienced by the road construction that you see, that you’ll just remember that it’s all good. It’s helping our economic recovery. It’s helping the health of our city and the health of our families," Woodward said.
The city is also working on finalizing plans to rebuild the aging Post Street Bridge. It will finish work on the combined sewer overflow tank near the downtown library. It will upgrade some of the traffic signals and build left-turn lanes on Hamilton, from the freeway to North Foothills Drive. And it will work on projects in Riverfront and Manito Parks.
Here's a complete list of projects the city plans for 2020.