STA holds open house on transit center

Spokane Transit Authority hosted an open house March 24 in the Irv Leeds Center at Spokane International Airport, March 24, for its “Moving Forward” proposition with the hopes of gaining feedback from the community. The proposition, which will appear on an April 28 ballot, proposes a three-tenths of 1 percent increase to local sales tax to help pay for improvements to STA’s service and projects.

STA’s plan has several proposed projects for the West Plains, including increasing service to Airway Heights, direct service to Medical Lake and Airway Heights, but the big project is the West Plains transit center, which will be located off Exit 272 on Interstate 90.

The West Plains Transit Center will provide an improved connectivity between the cities of Airway Heights, Cheney and Medical Lake while alleviating the need for riders to travel to downtown Spokane. It also increases Park and Ride capacity on the West Plains.

“A lot of riders go to Cheney via I-90 and Exit 272 along the highway,” STA Director of Planning Karl Ottostrom said. “When school is in session we are carrying over 4,000 passengers a day. The transit center is one element in our overall investment to make transit more usable.”

Ottostrom explained the right of way acquisition and conceptual design are underway. The goal is to have the transit center open in August 2018. STA plans to pay for the project with an $8.7 million Department of Transportation Regional Mobility Grant.

Ottostrom also presented traffic impacts the facility would potentially generate.

Cheney resident Bill Johns asked how STA is addressing the overpass, which is something “WSDOT had a fit about.”

Ottostrom said WSDOT is currently seeking funding to widen the overpass without constructing a new bridge.

Some people were concerned about the proposed location of the transit center. Ottostrom explained that site was selected because there are no transit services and no pedestrian facilities on the northside of State Route 902.

Another citizen, Donna Read, is concerned the increase of traffic in the area near Exit 272.

“We’re going to have busses, we’ll also have more trucks coming from the Petro station,” Read said. “Right now the area is hectic and it needs to be addressed.”

Although she has her concerns, Read said the West Plains transit center will be good for the community in “the long run.”

“It’s a good idea,” Read said. “We have a lot of students coming from Spokane and this gives them another place where they can catch buses.”

Al Stover can be reached at [email protected].