The new exit for Beck Rd. / W. Pointe Pkwy. in Post Falls near the Idaho/Washington state line is now open to traffic. The exit opened officially on Thanksgiving Day, about 1 whole day before it was scheduled to open. The interchange which is considered I-90 exit 1 is the first new exit along the freeway in our local area in the last few years.
Traffic taking the exit,for the time being however will not have full use of all routes built around the new junction. Traffic is forced onto W. Pointe Pkwy. and directly by the State Line Wal-Mart and into Cabela's. 2 additional routes will open sometime in around the spring of 2013. Beck Rd. is one of those routes as it is currently under construction to bring it south from Seltice Way to Pointe Pkwy at a new traffic light behind the Sysco warehouse.
Another future route connecting into the Beck Rd. exit will be Riversbend Ave. to the south of the main exit. It is thought that this new tie in for Riversbend Ave. to the streets servicing Cabela's will hopefully spark new stores and development for the North Idaho Outlets Outlet Mall which is currently served via I-90 exit 2, Pleasant View Rd and has been a virtual ghost town in the last few years.
Also there are many new business rumors that surround the completion of this project. I am watching all of those very closely but so far haven't gotten any official word. Those rumors include...
Ikea (the possibility of Spokane Ikea Store in Post Falls is covered in the rumor mill page of this site, at
http://inlandbusiness.blogspot.com/p/rumor-mill.html )
Target
Lowe's
Famous Dave's BBQ
and Cracker Barrel
No other new exit's are planned on I-90 in the Spokane/ Coeur d' Alene area for the near future however plans are in the works to improve upon the Harvard Rd Liberty Lake exit, and the Medical Lake exit both in Washington.
The new Beck Rd. interchange was funded by the developer of the Pointe at Post Falls project which is at the exit. It used funds under the State of Idaho's STAR legislation.
