SPOKANE, Wash. – Construction is continuing on the North Spokane Corridor, but the opening of the Wellesley Interchange in two weeks will mark another major milestone as the project marches toward completion.
Rachel Young works at Give It A Shot Espresso in Hillyard and says Wellesley Ave. being closed between Market St. and Freya St. for the better part of four years due to the ongoing construction has had major impacts on their business.
“People don’t want to go through construction, they see signs of construction and they go through a whole ‘nother path,” Young said. “We used to get 40 customers a day and now we’re down to 20.”
The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) announcing the opening of the Wellesley interchange–and with it adding about one and a half miles of drivable freeway on the North Spokane Corridor from the Freya interchange south to Wellesley–was welcome news.
“Oh we can’t wait!” Young said. “Just [opening] Wellesley alone is going to help so much. Wellesley is what’s going to get us back to where we were, but the highway’s going to help us take the next big step [in our business].”
WSDOT spokesperson Ryan Overton said the ribbon cutting planned for November 16 will be a big celebration to mark the significance of the occasion for the project as a whole.
“It’s really exciting to get this back open, not just for the community but those businesses and those residents that live along the roadway,” Overton said. “It’ll be the first time in 11 years that we’ve opened another section of the North Spokane corridor, so it’s really exciting. There’s a whole lot of work that’s gone into that.”
“When you finally see the fruits of all of that labor and you hear the positive feedback that you get from the public about the project, it makes it all worth it,” said project engineer Terrence Lynch.
Lynch says adding a mile and a half more drivable freeway will be a big time boost for commuters.
“What you can drive today is five and a half miles to Freya, so you add that mile and a half, now we’re up to seven miles,” Lynch said. “The whole freeway connection is only 10 and a half miles, so that leaves three and a half to go. That’s 70% of the project that will be completed when we open up Wellesley.”
It’ll also be a boost for the people who live in Hillyard.
“The community’s going to feel like it’s connected again, it’s been separated for so long,” Young said.
WSDOT representatives say the North Spokane Corridor is still on track to be fully completed by 2030.
