Spokane County approves road-name change and package of traffic-code revisions after short public hearings

Spokane County commissioners voted unanimously July 7 to rename a short portion of Inland Road to Old Trails Road and to adopt a package of traffic-code revisions that set or revise speed limits and school zones across the county.

County Road Engineer Matt Zorrochoure presented the road-name proposal for County Engineers Road file 1500, saying the change follows a county project that improved the connection between Inland Road and Old Trails Road and that State Parks requested the rename to reduce confusion where a road currently changes names midway. "This has been a really heavily used connection," Zorrochoure said, and staff recommended executing the change.

At the public hearing Frank Patrick, who identified himself as a resident of Old Trails Road, urged the board to reject the proposal, saying the roadway name has been in use for more than 100 years and that "there's no demonstrated improvement to emergency response, navigation, or safety by renaming the road." Commissioners questioned staff about impacts and were told only one residence on the Inland segment (a State Parks ranger residence) would need an address change; residents on Old Trails Road would not be required to change addresses. A motion to approve the name change passed unanimously.

The board then considered several traffic-code revisions affecting Old Trails Road, Craig Road, Elk Camden Road and Hastings Road. For Old Trails Road staff proposed a staggered approach: a 25-mph segment in the busy parking/crossing area, a 35-mph section through Riverside State Park where trail crossings and wildlife concerns exist, and leaving higher rural sections at the 45-mph rural default where appropriate. Bjorn, an online commuter, supported the reduced 35-mph segment, saying he has observed multiple deer collisions there. Frank Patrick also told the board the corridor's traffic has increased and said he "would support any movement to slow it down." Commissioners and staff said they coordinated with State Parks on signage and enforcement options. The motion to adopt the Old Trails speed limits passed unanimously.

On Craig Road staff proposed a new 20-mph flashing school zone tied to a new Cheney School District project in Airway Heights and a separate change to reduce another section of Craig Road from 45 to 35 mph because of urbanizing development; both measures were approved without public opposition. The board also approved a 25-mph limit on a segment of Elk Camden Road requested by the Elk community and two Hastings Road items: an expanded school-zone flashing area to encompass three crossings serving Mead High School and a reduction of Hastings Road from 35 to 30 mph to reflect pedestrian activity, nearby businesses and prior crash history. Commissioner (S8) cited community outreach following the death of a pedestrian, Eva Allen, as a motivating public-safety concern in the Hastings decisions.

All public-hearing items were moved, seconded and approved by voice vote with unanimous support. No roll-call tallies were read aloud; the chair earlier noted that all five commissioners were present. The chair closed the public portion of the meeting and announced a brief executive session on potential litigation under a cited statute.

The approved actions will be implemented by Spokane County Public Works as reflected in the adopted code revisions; staff said they will follow up on signage, enforcement coordination and any required ordinance or code deletions to effect the posted limits.