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City pursues federal road and bridge grants, will lead Centennial Trail application; Thorpe tunnel preliminary engineering to be funded by impact fees; truck‑r
Summary
Public works staff outlined several federal grant opportunities for pavement preservation and bridge rehabilitation, agreed to be lead agency on a Centennial Trail improvement application, proposed preliminary engineering for Thorpe Tunnels (to be funded from impact fees), and presented an ordinance to update designated truck routes.
Kevin Picano, presenting for Public Works, briefed the committee on multiple transportation funding opportunities and local projects.
The nut graf: staff said the city will pursue the NHS Asset Management Program (pavement preservation) and a Local Bridge Program (replacement/rehab), act as lead agency for a potential Centennial Trail upgrade application with state parks and county partners, advance preliminary engineering for the Thorpe Tunnels using impact‑fee funding, and bring an ordinance to update designated truck routes that has not been revised since 1995.
On grants, staff described the NHS Asset Management Program as a federally funded WSDOT-administered program that funds preservation work (grind/overlay/chip seal) with typical awards in the $2–6 million range and a maximum listed award of $10 million; applications are due on the 11th of the month (staff said) with award notices expected in summer and construction in 2027. The Local Bridge Program (also WSDOT-administered) focuses on replacement, rehabilitation and preventive maintenance for vehicular bridges; maximum awards listed were $25 million with typical awards $2–10 million and awards expected in September for 2027–28 construction.
Picano said the city would submit multiple bridge candidates and may bundle some; he noted Latah Bridge has early estimates “well over $60,000,000” and that the city intends to apply for design-phase funding despite low odds of receiving design-only awards.
On the Centennial Trail, staff said the city agreed to serve as lead agency for a collaborative application with State Parks, Spokane County and the Centennial Trail Coordinating Council. Local match would come from the Coordinating Council rather than city general funds, Picano said.
On Thorpe Tunnels, Picano said the city submitted a contract for preliminary engineering (scope/contract on consent) to study options to increase tunnel capacity; the tunnels now are roughly 8–9 feet travel width and can operate effectively as one-way with large vehicles. He said the preliminary engineering is to explore alternatives including a parallel tunnel or reconstruction and that the BNSF active rail corridor will be a major coordination item. Picano said the preliminary engineering work was identified to be funded from impact fees during the last impact‑fee update because of the scale and complexity of the study.
On truck routes, staff presented an ordinance to update designated truck routes (last updated in 1995). Proposed additions include Deer Heights Road, Electric Avenue, Hayford Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard (Division to Trent), among others; removals include parts of Trent Avenue and a set of downtown streets to shift truck traffic to US 395. Several councilmembers asked for truck counts and more detail on likely truck volumes for some newly designated corridors.
Ending: Staff said they will refine grant project lists, return with more detailed truck-count data and continue coordination on Thorpe preliminary engineering; no formal votes were taken at the PIES meeting.
