SPOKANE, Wash. – Cheney-Spokane Road will be closing completely in the next month or so west of US-195, as work continues on a water main in Latah Valley that’s required lane restrictions for the last several weeks.
It’s one of over 20 active road construction projects across Spokane, and has nearby businesses concerned about potential impacts to their customers.
“We are nervous about the upcoming full road closure, and hoping that people can still find their way around,” said Susan Shelby. “It’s gonna take an extra minute or two to drive around, and we just hope that everybody is willing to add a couple minutes and continue to support.”
Shelby owns and operates Latah Bistro, Shelby’s Burgers, Latah Latte and Wine & Taps, all located in the shopping center off of Cheney-Spokane Road west of US-195, right in the thick of ongoing construction zones.
She says despite the roadwork and potential lane confusion, business has actually been pretty good.
“It was a little inconvenient at first, just for everyone to try and figure out which way to go and the detour has changed a little bit, but as it stands right now we’ve been doing great,” Shelby said.
“Any time we have road construction we know it’s a hardship for area businesses,” said City of Spokane spokesperson Kirstin Davis.
Davis said an exact date for the full closure is still up in the air at this point, but explained the full closure was necessary in order to complete the work–adding that it likely will come within the next month or so, depending on the status of the project.
“The reason is we don’t have that much room,” Davis said. “Between what needs to get done, the size of the pipe that needs to go through there, we have to dig that dirt out and it has to go somewhere, the equipment has to go somewhere. We really worked hard to see if we could maintain a traffic lane, and it just wasn’t possible.”
Davis said, when it happens, the full closure will likely last through the end of construction season in the fall, and will actually start past the shopping center.
“So all of those businesses along Cheney-Spokane Road in that area will remain open,” Davis said.
Still though, city staff led a meeting to talk about the project with Latah Valley residents who’ve raised own concerns that a full closure of another one of the neighborhood’s main connections to US-195–with 16th Ave. also fully closed west of the freeway–could seriously impact access for first responders and create a bottleneck during a wildfire evacuation, if necessary.
“We’ve absolutely been working hard with all of our multi-jurisdictional agencies to have a plan in place and educate the people in that area about what they need to do for emergency preparedness,” Davis said.
“They’re doing their best and all they can to help the road closure not be a problem,” Shelby said.
With the continued development in Latah Valley, Shelby’s remaining optimistic about the water main project and the potential impacts to her business.
“I think it’s absolutely necessary for all of the new construction they have slotted in the future, as well as for the existing residents to be safe,” she said. “It’s an inconvenience for us all, but if everyone works with the city, and works around everything, this is a road bump that we can all get through. We got through COVID, so if we can get through that we can get through this.”
