On Thursday at the monthly Spokane Regional Transportation Council (SRTC) meeting a routine approval of a project list to submit for for the federal Jobs Bill took on some unexpected drama when Mayor Verner asked “What about the Fish Lake Trail?” Good question. This project list was allowed to include one non-motorized project. The Fish Lake Trail enjoys broad support at the SRTC. It’s in the County, but it connects Cheney to Spokane and has recreational uses as well as transportation. The latest phase that opened a few months ago has been wildly popular. The next phase needs two bridges to cross two very active rail lines at a cost of $4 million dollars. The bridges would help complete a statewide trail system and bring another much-needed large construction job to the region. The only practical way to fund it is with federal money set aside for non-motorized projects. So why not include it? The federal money requires project to be ready to build within 90 days. While the Council debated the risk including such a large request, versus the much smaller benefits of the $135k non-motorized that was already on the list, the Mayor hopped in and out of the conference room on her cell phone getting multiple updates on the exact stage of the design and permitting of the project. Ultimately after hearing from her staff and conversing with the council the Mayor opted to withdraw adding the Fish Lake Trail bridges to the list because there was too much risk of permitting issues disrupting the timeframe.

It was an unfortunate result, but a prudent decision. I was thrilled to see the Mayor work so hard to exhaust every possibility of funding a project that will be great for Spokane, the region, and all those who support cycling and walking. And the the project could still be funded yet this year. The Mayor has made a separate federal budget request for half the funds needed and I’m confident SRTC will look at all possibilities in funding the other half.