Aerial view of West Central neighborhood facing east with a view of Downtown Spokane in the distance to the right

West Central Infrastructure Project

March 8, 2024

Welcome!

Elementary school children crossing the street. Students guarding both ends of the street with flags for safe crossing.

Thank you for visiting the online open house for the West Central Infrastructure Project. The City of Spokane would like community input to help identify and prioritize needed street improvements within the West Central Neighborhood. This website presents information about the project including how the neighborhood can participate, how potential projects are funded, and what types of projects are possible and not possible. Below you will find instructions on navigating the website.

Navigating this site

This online open house consists of three sections:

Project Background
Initial Ideas for Infrastructure Projects in West Central
Stay Updated and Participate

Here are some helpful tips about how to navigate the site:

Use your mouse or keyboard to scroll down through the content or use your browser's scroll bar on the right.
Use the navigation bar at the top of the screen to jump to different sections.
If you are participating on your mobile device, look out for arrows to direct you through the virtual open house.

Project Background

What is the West Central Infrastructure Project?

In 2007, the City of Spokane created the West Quadrant Tax Increment Finance (WQTIF) District to raise funds for public infrastructure and community development projects in the West Central Neighborhood.

To learn more about the WQTIF District, please visit: https://my.spokanecity.org/projects/west-quadrant-tax-increment-finance-district/

Map of the West Central neighborhood boundary highlighting planned projects and funding sources. Planned and funded projects include bike lanes on Broadway Avenue from Chestnut to Lincoln street, bike lanes on Maxwell Avenue from Belt to Walnut Street, and restriping on Lincoln Street from Summit Parkway to Sinto Avenue. Planned and unfunded projects include streetscape improvements from Bridge Avenue to Dean Avenue on Chestnut, Cannon, and Elm Street, and from Broadway to Nora Avenue on Ash and Maple Streets. Other planned and unfunded projects include greenways on Chestnut Street from Bridge Avenue to Maxwell Avenue, and on Elm Street from Centennial Trail to Maxwell Avenue.

Project Goals

Project goals include:

Improve connectivity and safety for people walking, biking, and driving
Support economic development
Provide the community with meaningful opportunities to identify and prioritize streetscape, street, safety, and public space improvements
Leverage WQTIF District and other funding sources to build improvements

Project Process and Timeline

A project timeline infographic showcasing milestones for a two-year plan with phases including preliminary design, feasibility analysis, concept designs, and community outreach feedback sessions occurring in the Spring and Fall 2024, and Winter 2025 for each project phase..

What types of projects are possible?

The WQTIF District authorizes a series of projects focused on streetscape improvements, traffic calming, and utility upgrades designed to support economic development within the district.

What can’t be done?

There are also certain types of projects that cannot be used with WQTIF District funds, including:

Mixed-use, and commercial buildings, or rehabilitation of existing buildings
Public facilities such as schools, libraries, and parks
Economic development incentives such as grants or loans to small businesses

Initial Ideas for Projects in West Central

Street Treatments

There is a range of treatments for streets in the West Central Neighborhood to promote safer crossings, safer speeds, and safer streets for all users. Some treatments are inexpensive retrofits, pavement markings, and signage that can be quickly and cheaply implemented. Others require greater study, coordination, and funding.

There are multiple kinds of treatments to address a wide variety of safety issues at the intersection and corridor level. These treatments are generally organized into four categories:

Bicycle Treatments
Pedestrian Treatments
Roadway Treatments
Landscape Treatments

Summary of Treatments

The following tables provide a summary of all the treatments shown in this toolbox. More details about each are provided in the next section.

In the table, recommended street types for the treatments are indicated as follows:

L = Local
C = Collector
A = Arterial
Any = Any of the above
L/C, C/A = Local or Collector, Collector or Arterial

Opportunities and Limitations

Some things to keep in mind when implementing street treatments are:

The improvements need to be in the public rights-of-way.
Planting beds must be at least 5 feet wide (many areas between the roads and sidewalks today are only 3 to 4 feet).
Some large trees may be lost in projects that change sidewalks, curbs and corner ramps.
Landscaping and sidewalks in the right-of-way are maintained by the adjacent property owner.

Potential project locations

Once priority projects are selected, project partners should identify street treatments that can be evaluated for application at specific locations.

Click on the image on each point for project description. Expand or minimize the map using button in top-right corner.

Stay Updated and Participate

Upcoming community outreach activities:

More coming soon. Stay tuned!

Sign up for project updates here:

https://spokanecity.wufoo.com/forms/west-central-infrastructure-project-updates/

For more information, please visit the project web page:

https://my.spokanecity.org/projects/west-central-infrastructure-project/

Or contact:

For more information, contact Colin Quinn-Hurst at cquinnhurst@spokanecity.org

Thank you for your participation!

We sincerely appreciate your time and interest in this important project.