Barker Road reopens after two-year construction project

By John McCallum Current contributor

The April 18 ribbon cutting for the new Barker Road Bridge couldn’t have had a better moment even if scripted by Hollywood.

As Spokane Valley City Manager John Hohman spoke to the gathered dignitaries, officials and others and thanked Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway for their assistance on the two-year, $26 million traffic reconfiguration and rail grade separation project, an eastbound BNSF train passed underneath the newly constructed bridge, sounding its horn.

Hohman said it served as a reminder of the importance of the project to traffic safety in the region, removing two at-grade railway crossings while also creating better traffic flow with a two-lane roundabout at Barker and Trent — replacing a former stop-sign controlled intersection.

“And after today, hopefully there won’t be any more of those train horns, at least not here,” Hohman added.

The project is the largest and most complex project the city has undertaken to date. It involved coordination between a number of entities, with Washington State Department of Transportation administering the construction project and providing construction management.

Spokane Valley and BNSF were also involved in approving the work as it progressed, with Max J. Kuney Company serving as the general contractor overseeing the work of a variety of subcontractors. The complexity of the work and the organizational arrangement led to a number of change orders — 68 to be exact, a figure including some that are still under negotiation.

Some of the change orders, such as change order No. 37 in the amount of $208,953, came from added costs to the contractor as a result of review delays by BNSF, along with issues arising from railroad right of way issues.

“(BNSF) must approved the means and the methods of construction, not necessarily the amounts,” Spokane Valley city engineer Gloria Mantz said in an April 19 interview.

In the same interview, Hohman added that the right of way issues with BNSF included construction of the roundabout north of the bridge, with much of Trent Avenue residing on BNSF property. Those issues will also play a part in the city’s next large grade separation project at Pines Road and Trent.

There were also material issues, one of the largest being the fill material needed to raise the roundabout level and for the bridge ramps. BNSF required a specific type of material that was natural and never touched, forcing the contractor to truck in material from a site north of Spokane 15 miles away rather than closer to the project.

The changes resulted in a $1.434 million increase in the construction cost of the project, going from the almost $11.64 million bid by Kuney in March 2021 to $13.293 million as of February. Even with the changes, the project is still within its $26 million budget.

Despite that, all parties involved agreed the project is a success, and should result in economic and safety success for the region. In her remarks at the ribbon cutting, Spokane Valley Mayor Pam Haley said the new roundabout will create better traffic flow and safety at Barker and Trent, while the bridge will eliminate any potential contact between vehicle and pedestrian traffic in the area and the 60 – 70 trains BNSF officials say pass through the region daily.

And while this may cut down on train horns at Trent, those horns will continue to sound at the Union Pacific crossing further south on Barker Road.

“This is going to be such an important part of safety and convenience,” Haley added of the Barker project.

Haley also noted the project has already spurred development of some of the 600 acres of industrial land along Barker. Doug Yost, vice president of development & acquisitions for Centennial Real Estate Investments, said he didn’t envision the development that has already taken place in the 11 years since he stood in a field along Barker Road surveying the area.

“We’ve only scratched the surface of what can be done out here,” Yost said.

According to a report created for the city by consultants ECO Northwest, the Barker Road project could result in $2 billion of total economic output for the state, with $980 million in direct impact. It could lead to 9,800 new jobs in the state, 3,300 locally, with a projected tax revenue of $12.3 million for Spokane Valley and $50.8 million for the state.

Of the $26 million in funding, $9 million came from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Investment Generating Recovery Discretionary Grant program, with $6 million coming from the National Highway Freight Program. The Washington State Freight Mobility Investment Board provided $5 million with the city of Spokane Valley adding another $3.6 million, something Haley expressed pride in.

“There’s no way we could have done this on our own,” she added.

The Barker Road project is part of the city’s “Bridging the Valley” project that began about 10 years ago. While the roundabout and bridge opened for traffic on April 19, other aspects of the project remain to be completed, including closing Flora Road from Garland to Trent and thereby removing the at-grade railway crossing on Flora.

“It was a two-for-one deal at the time,” Hohman said in the April 19 interview. “To get the funding, we had to build the one and close the other.”

The project also served as an exercise in cooperation between the entities involved. That cooperation was evident from the early design stages six years ago and resulted in some savings.

The city’s original design utilized a standard diamond-shaped intersection similar to the one further west on Trent at Sullivan. While it could be built, DOT officials told the city it wouldn’t likely be economically feasible, and instead suggested the roundabout and Barker bridge.

“The project we ended up putting in was about half the cost,” Hohman said.

The cooperation between entities will get more chances soon. The $40 million Pines Road / BNSF Grade Separation Project could begin seeing some activity this fall, with a likely groundbreaking in spring 2024, with design work on the Sullivan Road/ Trent Avenue interchange bridge being increased.

“For DOT, it (Barker grade separation) was a benchmark on how to do projects together,” WSDOT Assistant Secretary – Regions/ Chief Engineer Mike Gribner said at the ribbon cutting. “A lot of tough decisions were made along the way. The relationship between the agency and the city staff made it possible.”

Spokane Valley council to address illicit massage and reflexology practices

By John McCallum Current contributor

The city of Spokane Valley is eyeing measures to rein in what it sees as increases in unlicensed massage and reflexology businesses and individuals practicing this craft, and the potential for criminal activity sometimes associated with these businesses.

At its April 18 meeting, the City Council heard from Deputy City Manager Erik Lamb and Spokane Valley Police Department Sgt. Rick Johnson about a proposed twopronged approach to addressing the issue of these unlicensed individuals and businesses. The first would be adding new language to the city’s municipal code by adopting Chapters 18.108 and 18.130 of the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) “related to the unlicensed practice of professional services by reference.”

The state provisions were enacted in 2015 through passage of Substitute House Bill 1252, which, among many things, subjected massage and reflexology business owners to criminal penalties for engaging in unlicensed practices. According to a short citation on the Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals website, any person with knowledge or through criminal negligence who allows an unlicensed practice to occur in their business is guilty of a misdemeanor for the first violation and a gross misdemeanor for subsequent violations.

According to the bill, a misdemeanor is punishable by up to 90 days in jail, a maximum of $1,000 in fines or both. A gross misdemeanor is punishable by up to 364 days in jail, a maximum of $5,000 in fines or both.

The added section also clarifies law enforcements ability to inspect the business, under what conditions this can take place and the limitations on when and where it can occur.

Lamb said the second prong involves amending city code 5.05 SVMC — which applies to all individual or entities seeking business license in Spokane Valley — to install procedures allowing the city to deny, suspend or revoke the offending business owner’s business license, something the current code does not allow. It also clarifies and updates the appeals process to make those current with the city’s Hearing Examiner — who would make a final judgement in these cases — procedures.

The amendments specify the City Manager or their designee as the individual responsible for reviewing these applications or denying, suspending or revoking the licenses if conditions exist to do so. The amendments listed eight reasons for these latter actions, including licenses procured by fraud, applications inconsistent with current land use regulations and a license “used, or intended to be used, for a business materially different from that applied for.”

“We’re trying to engage this once we know of bad actors out there,” Lamb said.

Johnson, who worked in a human trafficking unit prior to coming to Spokane Valley, said the department is seeing more of these businesses springing up in the city and an accompanying increase in complaints from citizens surrounding some of the activity taking place. He added these unlicensed businesses and individuals are often involved in human trafficking and are difficult to investigate and bring charges against. He said the city recently charged one such parlor after a ninemonth investigation, but that the “end game” of the new measures isn’t necessarily prosecution.

“We want these places shut down,” Johnson said. “We want these places to move on.”

According to a 2020 report by the Human Trafficking Institute,

Washington was home to 279 suspected illicit massage businesses. While human trafficking occurs in many cultures and countries, the report noted “victim workers” in illicit massage businesses are typically women aged 30 – 50 from China, Korea, Thailand and Vietnam who arrive in the U.S. on legal visitor visas, learn of these job opportunities “through fraudulent recruitment ads on social media platforms,” are forced to engage in providing sexual services and find themselves having “exorbitant debt to repay, in the tens of thousands of dollars — often upwards of $50,000” due to visa and travel costs, often arranged through brokers.

Councilwoman Brandi Peetz asked Johnson if the department had attempted to work with the state Department of Labor on issues involving unlicensed massage shops and individuals. Johnson said they had, but experienced difficulty getting useful responses.

“It hasn’t been well received,” he added.

While human trafficking is a serious issue, Lamb reiterated the intent of the new and amended measures isn’t aimed at this practice.

“The larger goal is to shut these down and send a message to not come here,” he added. “Human trafficking is another, larger issue.”

The council gave its consensus to city staff to prepare resolutions to bring back to council for possible adoption at an upcoming meeting.