Where are the visionaries on the proposed byway?

My husband and I boated into Sandpoint recently, we were going to enjoy a nice lunch and take a walk through town. As we entered the marina we saw several survey sticks in the middle of the boating channel, toward the boardwalk. We were shocked to see where the bypass will go; until we actually saw those survey markers and could visualize the whole thing; well, it just made us sick and sad.

A bypass that would go right by all, I said all the restaurants overlooking the water would completely ruin the view; it would be dirty and noisy. How could anyone think that this bypass would be great in that area? You will not have a unique town; the beauty and serenity would be gone and replaced by a freeway. This summer we were a part of the wooden boat show on the Sandpoint boardwalk; do you think that it would be a wonderful place for any show if a bypass were built? I doubt that our Antique and Classic Boat Club would continue to hold a show in a noisy dirty place; the show would be literally under a freeway.

We talked about the tunnel and wondered what the problem was, why not put in a tunnel. It works for San Francisco (The Bart Tunnel), it works for Vancouver, British Columbia, and it works for the Floating Bridge in Seattle, I could go on. This is another example of the DOE and Department of Lands ability to think about the future of Sandpoint, or make sensible ideas. We just cannot ruin such a lovely area; you can kiss the city of Sandpoint good-bye. If you build that bypass that is exactly what out-of-towners would do — bypass the city.

CAROL ALBANESE

Priest River