ITD must prove it can answer hard questions

I found the recent article on the byway traffic study to be of interest. It seems to suggest that we should somehow be impressed that the byway will provide 16 years of service before it is at capacity. Recall that the it cannot be put into service until 2010 at the very earliest.

The report also seems to dodge the issue of when traffic will again return to gridlock in downtown Sandpoint. To me the report validates what many have been saying all along; that the shiny new $92 million highway is only a short term fix.

Clearly the only long-term solution is to provide four through lanes on U.S. 95. A four-lane proposal was the leading vote getter (37 percent) in the 1993 advisory ballot. Four lanes is what the people want and the transportation system needs to ensure a long-term solution to the region's traffic problem — that is why it is one of the key elements of tunnel proposal. It is time for ITD to make clear their plans for getting four lanes through Sandpoint on U.S. Highway 95. Where and at what cost are they going to be able to do this? I've asked them time and time again, they have yet to answer. Until ITD can answer the difficult questions the only possible conclusion is that they simply have no long-term plan.

STEVE POTTER

Sandpoint

Citizens for the

Sandpoint Tunnel