STA breaks ground on transit hub

The heavy equipment from Halme Construction beat the shovels to the punch turning the first dirt for a new transit hub on the West Plains.

But that did not diminish the enthusiasm members of area business and government showed July 19 when the ceremonial groundbreaking was held for the new Spokane Transit Authority facility on property at Exit 272 and State Route 902.

The project, estimated to cost about $10 million, is expected to be completed in about a year and will streamline bus service between the cities of Cheney, Airway Heights and Medical Lake, along with Fairchild Air Force Base and the city of Spokane.

"It's just a good thing all the way around for us to be here and celebrating what is going to be a wonderful connection," STA CEO Susan Meyer said.

Drawing funding from a variety of areas - 70 percent from the state of Washington - the new park and ride area will allow transit users to connect directly with West Plains communities without having to travel to Spokane first.

The facility will feature a 200-car parking lot as well as three shelters, one heated for the inclement winter weather. Avista will provide four car-charging stations for electric vehicles.

"Like most projects that are transportation-related, they are multi-phased," Meyer said.

Signs along Interstate 90 will direct users to the center. But by 2020, there are plans to complete direct access to the freeway in a dedicated off ramp. The I-90 link will be put out to bid in late 2019 with construction in 2020, according to Washington State Department of Transportation regional administrator, Mike Frucci.

Cheney Mayor Tom Trulove, who also serves on the STA board of directors, said the West Plains Center is one of many projects he called "transformational." The eventual service will be attractive to a growing business community in the area, he added.

West Plains communities provided support for the April 2016 ballot measure that gave STA an additional 2/10s of 1 cent of sales tax revenue to fund what is known as their "Moving Forward" program of transit expansion in the county.

Offering some history from his long association with Cheney - as a longtime economics professor, his first stint as mayor in the late 1970s to early 1980s and current term that is nearing its end - Trulove reminded the audience that Cheney once proposed going into the transit business.

Before there was an STA, Cheney was interested in getting students to and from Spokane and the City Council looked at the idea of buying buses and hiring drivers, he said.

Brad Gile, logistics manager for Caterpillar, located just down the road from the hub, spoke of better transit service as being important to keeping employees.

Spokane County Commissioner, and another STA board member, Al French, noted this project is the most latest in a recent boom in construction of business-related projects in the area.

"We've seen more development in the West Plains in the last six years than we saw in the previous three decades," French said.

French said that while this day was notable, it's the future he looks forward to. "This is a great day, this day is only going to be outshined when we do the ribbon cutting next spring or summer," he added.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].