It will soon be safer and easier to travel by bike or on foot around Spokane Valley. After gaining council approval of its Bicycle Pedestrian Master Program (BPMP) last year, the city is now busy implementing it.
Nine bicycle and pedestrian projects are slated to be completed this year, including the Evergreen Road rehabilitation project. This project will take advantage of a water line replacement project by VERA Water & Power to reconstruct Evergreen from 24th to 32ndAvenue and improve sidewalks and add bike lanes.
Marc Mims, Bicycle Alliance board member and Spokane Valley resident, pointed out this project will complete an important north-south bicycle route through the Valley and give cyclists safer access to Highway 27, a popular recreational bike route south of town.
In addition to the construction projects, the city has ten bicycle and walking projects in the planning and design stage. According to Marc, two of them are especially significant to people who bike: the University/I-90 Overpass Study and the Spokane Valley/Millwood Trail.
“We don’t have safe bike routes across I-90 anywhere in Spokane Valley,” stated Marc. “The University Road/I-90 Overpass study could provide that.”
The Spokane Valley/Millwood Trail will provide the planning and design of a 6.5-mile trail from Spokane Community College to the Spokane Valley Mall, using a former Great Northern Railway corridor now owned by Spokane County. The trail will provide a great east-west route through the Valley reaching destinations that are currently difficult to access by bike, Marc noted.
The BPMP was Spokane Valley’s first effort to plan for biking and walking, and the Bicycle Alliance provided technical assistance and input for it. Learn more about the city’s other planned bike and pedestrian projects and the BPMP here.
