Pines Road Underpass in Spokane Valley: What Changes at Trent

North Pines Road is about to stop crossing the BNSF tracks at street level. Starting at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, October 14, the city is fully closing Pines in front of Trent Elementary, between Mirabeau Parkway and East Trent Avenue. It plans to reopen at 6 a.m. Monday, October 19, before school drop-off. The city's October 9 notice also says traffic should move onto a new alignment under the new railroad bridge "early next week," which puts the switch in the week of October 12, the same week as the closure.

The new alignment doesn't use the Pines/Trent signal at all. All turns between Pines, Trent Avenue and Empire Way will go through a new multilane roundabout east of the old intersection. The City of Spokane Valley's October 9 announcement spells it out: once the switch happens, "traffic will no longer be using the Pines/Trent signal and will use the roundabout to complete any turns."

The train wait goes away, and the habits that grew up around the old intersection have to change too.

This Week's Closure, Day by Day

The full closure is short and planned around the school week. The city says the crew will use the days when school is out to finish paving the new Pines alignment and build a new access point into Trent Elementary.

If you normally get onto or off Trent at Pines, the city's suggested detours are University Road or Sullivan Road. KXLY's report on the closure points drivers to the same two roads.

As of today, the switchover hasn't happened yet. The city describes it as "anticipated," so the exact day depends on how the closure week goes.

Where the Four Hours Came From

The city's headline number is that the new alignment "will eliminate the current four hours per day of vehicle wait time at the existing Pines/BNSF crossing." That's the total time across a day when the gates are down and cars are stopped. It doesn't mean any one driver waits that long.

Older reporting shows how the total adds up. In 2020, The Spokesman-Review reported that an average of 62 BNSF trains passed through Spokane Valley each day, and each one held vehicles at an at-grade crossing for about 3½ to 4 minutes. Sixty-two trains at four minutes each is 248 minutes, a little over four hours. The 62-train figure is from 2020 and covers the Valley as a whole, not Pines alone, but the totals line up. A few minutes per train, many times a day, adds up to a full afternoon's worth of stopped traffic every day at a single crossing.

By February 2024, the same paper was reporting that the Pines crossing caused about four hours of cumulative daily delay. At that point, about $43 million in state and federal grants had been lined up for the fix.

Getting rid of the crossing also gets rid of the train horns there. The city says the grade separation removes the need for horns at the Pines crossing. That change covers this one crossing only. Other crossings in the Valley are separate cases.

The Intersection Moves East

The project does more than add an underpass at the BNSF crossing. It also shifts the Pines and Trent intersection to the east, replaces the signal with a multilane roundabout and added new pedestrian facilities, lighting and stormwater improvements.

That's why the roundabout is the part of this project that changes your daily routine. Avoiding a train used to mean timing your trip or picking another road. Now you'll be making the same turn through a new kind of intersection every time. The city says the project should also improve traffic flow and freight movement, improve access to I-90 and key Valley arterials, and make fire, police and ambulance response more reliable.

Driving the new roundabout

WSDOT has general guidance for multilane roundabouts like the one at Pines, Trent and Empire Way:

1. Pick your lane before you enter, using the lane-choice signs. Usually the right lane is for going straight or turning right, and the left lane is for going straight or turning left.
2. Yield to traffic already circling, in both lanes.
3. Stay in your lane all the way through, and don't stop once you're inside.
4. Don't drive alongside oversized vehicles, which may need more than one lane to get around.
5. Expect slow speeds. WSDOT says roundabouts are designed for roughly 15 to 20 mph.

The WSDOT roundabouts page has the full guidance. Since freight movement on this corridor was one of the reasons for the project, the advice about oversized vehicles matters at Pines and Trent more than it would at a quiet neighborhood roundabout.

The Corridor Stays Under Construction Through Spring

Moving traffic onto the new alignment doesn't finish the project. The city expects single-lane closures on both Trent Avenue and Pines Road through the spring while crews finish concrete work, electrical work, trail connections and landscaping. KXLY's coverage of the project's final stretch also puts overall completion in spring 2027.

So this winter you'll get the train-free route plus lane restrictions. The finished version, with landscaping and trail connections, comes later.

The Trail Piece Arrives Last

The project includes a new Centennial Trail trailhead with parking. Avista Utilities donated three acres of land along the river for it. KHQ's report on the project's milestones mentions the donated trailhead land along with the project's budget and grant funding.

The city hasn't announced a separate opening date for the trailhead. Trail connections are on the list of work continuing through spring, and the whole project is targeted for spring 2027. For now, plan on the trailhead opening with the rest of the project, not with this month's road switch. That means the new parking and river access will probably be ready around the start of next year's trail season, not this fall.

A Plan From 2004, Finished in Stages

Pines has been in the works for a long time. The city calls it the second project from the 2004 Bridging the Valley Plan. The earlier BNSF grade separation at Barker Road was underway by June 2021, when The Spokesman-Review reported that the overpass would eliminate the at-grade crossing and the train horns there.

Here's how the Pines project came together:

The city calls this its largest capital improvement project to date, with a $48 million budget. Grants cover 90% of it: $38.5 million in federal money and $5 million from the state. The city also expects the project to open up access to 226 acres of land zoned for mixed-use, commercial or industrial use. It projects that land could support nearly 9,000 new jobs, though that's the city's forecast, not a result yet.

What Changes for Your Drive

For anyone who uses Pines at Trent, here's the sequence: University or Sullivan this week, the underpass and roundabout after that, and lane restrictions through the winter. The four hours a day the city counted as gate-down delay at Pines go away with the switchover. The Trent Avenue traffic light you've waited at for years goes away too. The trailhead on Avista's three donated acres opens last, with the project's spring 2027 finish.

If you're wondering how the finished Pines corridor might affect your commute, your errands or your plans for the home you're in, Inland Empire Home Team is happy to talk it through with local, neighborhood-level perspective.