SPOKANE, Wash. – The Garland Avenue and Monroe Street intersection has been closed for ten days, leading to delays for commuters heading downtown from the north.
There are more than 20 different construction projects going on throughout Spokane, according to the city of Spokane website, many of which are road repairs that affect travel.
The Garland and Monroe intersection can be avoided by taking Ash Street and Maple Street to go north and south, but those roads are undergoing months of chip seal work that have limited some areas to one lane. The construction on these streets typically is between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. to avoid traffic in peak times, said Kirstin Davis, Spokane Public Works Communications Manager.
Randy Artz owns Blade’s Rooms barbershop on that intersection, and said he had to find a new way into work, but is impressed with the speed the workers are fixing the street.
“Within no time at all they were already putting up signs and closing roads, and getting traffic rerouted and stuff. Definitely pretty efficient on what they’re doing as far as work goes,” Artz said.
This is just one of more than five grind and overlay projects the city of Spokane is currently working on. Significant projects on 29th Avenue, Haven Street, and Washington Street downtown.
The city advised alternate routes to avoid the construction entirely, but the options for main roads heading north and south to areas north of Spokane are few.
“This is for sure a really challenging year getting north and south from the north side of the river. We are really encouraging people to use Division, and also we got a lot of work going on in Washington, that’s going to happen throughout the construction season,” Davis said.
The Garland Monroe intersection will remain under construction for roughly three more weeks, Davis said. The next phase on Monroe Street will be a grind and overlay from Kiernan Avenue to Francis Avenue and is estimated to finish in September, Davis said.
At least one lane in each direction will remain open on Monroe Street during the construction.
