Getting There: Spokane councilman calls for more transparency on road projects before removing lanes, changing direction

May 17-In February, an unelected commission unilaterally voted to remove two travel lanes from Grand Boulevard, one of the city's busiest corridors. Increasingly, the same body seems poised to do similarly to Spokane Falls Boulevard, while also converting a section into a two-way road.

Councilman Michael Cathcart is pushing for the council to have more control over whether lanes are removed from roadways or one-way roads are converted into two-way, as City Hall increasingly considers both as tools to reduce traffic speeds.

Councilman Michael Cathcart first publicly pitched council review of lane reductions or major modifications on Monday, arguing that elected oversight increases transparency compared to a decision during the less well-attended meetings of the Spokane Transportation Commission.

"I know there's a lot of stakeholders who are either property owners or users on (Spokane Falls Boulevard) who have expressed their opposition, but there's really no place for them to go," Cathcart said in a Thursday interview. "They could go to the Transportation Commission and state their case, but they're unelected, an appointed body ...

"Folks need to be able to go to an accountable body, essentially, to advocate whether they should or should not make the change."

Though Cathcart originally proposed forcing a stand-alone vote once a lane-reduction or -modification decision had been made, collaboration with Councilwoman Kitty Klitzke and Mayor Lisa Brown's administration appears to be forming a compromise that would allow for review during the normal council process for approving transportation projects.

While details are still being hashed out, the compromise would require city staff to brief council on major changes to projects on the city's six-year street plan, which includes all major road projects for the years ahead. Currently, council is primarily briefed about projects coming onto or off the list, but not on staff recommendations to reduce lanes or change the direction of traffic.

"For example, Spokane Falls Boulevard, it's in the six-year street plan," Cathcart said. "But it is not identified in there to potentially - and it looks like it will - reduce lanes and change directions for at least part of the road."

Compared to stand-alone review of projects with lane changes, Klitzke argued adding more information to the existing process would be less disruptive for city staff.

"It will be much more functional for everybody so it doesn't add more process, but does have those extra eyeballs," Klitzke said.

In a statement, the mayor's office acknowledged that it was working with Cathcart to create opportunity for additional review, but argued that the transportation commission was increasing transparency, not diminishing it.

"The Administration is having positive conversations with Councilmember Cathcart and is focused on creating a robust public process when it comes to transportation decisions," wrote city spokeswoman Erin Hut. "This is exactly why the Brown Administration created the Transportation Commission. While the commission is fairly new, it is already playing an important role in evaluating options, gathering community feedback, and making recommendations to the mayor as we work to improve transportation across Spokane."

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