Julie Happy, Division Communication Manager of Business and Developer Services, No Phone Number Available
Monday, December 7, 2015 at 2:57 p.m.
This past 2015 construction season was a big one – the biggest ever, in fact. But City crews are still hard at work as construction season wraps up. As we say goodbye to another season of critical improvements around Spokane, the Streets Department is ready to tackle snow and ice to keep drivers safe.
The construction season this year saw 43 capital projects totaling $73 million dollars. Key projects included the completion of High Drive, additional work on Lincoln and Monroe streets, and continued efforts with Combined Sewer Overflow tanks to keep our river clean from stormwater. These CSO tanks were a part of the integrated projects on Northwest Boulevard, High Drive, Hartson, Sprague, and Ray Street. The entire construction season was comprised of:
The first of the Street Levy projects approved by voters last fall were also implemented:
Street maintenance work also included grind and overlay, crack seal, and pothole repair work.
It has been a quick transition from construction season to snow season, with a light snow event already occurring last week. City Street crews were prepared with sand and deicer trucks going out ahead of the conditions and working through the night to keep our streets safe for the morning commute. The snow budget each year is approximately $2.7 million, and this year we have plenty of funds remaining to tackle snow and ice until the next snow budget cycle begins in January.
We constantly strive to improve our snow response each year and this year is no different. This winter, we are testing GPS technology in four maintenance vehicles. GPS allows better tracking of where snow response vehicles are in real-time, and what amount of material is being used on the streets. In the future, this information would be readily available to the public. Data such as air temperature, roadway temperature, deicing and sanding statistics, and other important messaging for drivers could be featured on an interactive, web-based map, for example.
For more information on snow response, check out our latest Snow Season blog.
