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Spokane Valley council authorizes application for $18.08 million federal bridge grant for Sullivan–Trent project
Summary
Council authorized the city manager to apply for an $18,079,440 Federal Local Bridge Program grant for the Sullivan and Trent interchange project; staff said the grant is for bridge elements of a roughly $53 million total project.
Spokane Valley — The City Council on April 15 authorized the city manager to apply for $18,079,440 from the Washington State Department of Transportation’s Federal Local Bridge Program for the Sullivan and Trent interchange project.
Adam Jackson, Engineering Manager, described the program as a statewide $100 million competitive program that funds bridge replacement, rehabilitation or preventative maintenance with no local match. Jackson said the city’s eligible element is the Sullivan Bridge over Trent; while the bridge is open and not load-restricted, inspections and condition ratings show deterioration and insufficient vertical clearance. He said the application would request roughly $18 million of the project’s estimated $53 million total cost, focused on bridge construction elements eligible under the grant.
City staff and councilors discussed project history and alternatives. City Manager John Holman said the project has been on city and state agendas since at least 2019 and emphasized recurring operational problems at the interchange, including frequent strikes to the structure and severe congestion that produces level-of-service F during peak hours. Jackson said the city has applied for federal funding for the project multiple times and that the current application focuses on bridge elements that meet program eligibility.
A motion to authorize the application passed; council members who spoke during the discussion stressed the project’s long history, regional traffic patterns and safety concerns. Public commenters also urged prompt action and questioned whether the grant requires a local match — staff responded there is no local match for this specific federal local bridge program grant but that the city must close funding gaps for the overall project if awarded funds cover only part of costs.
Quotes in this article are from Adam Jackson, John Holman and public commenters recorded in the April 15 transcript.
