'Eastpoint' group derails highway realignment plan

… A possible Daily Bee story, circa 2021 …

"Local group derails U.S. 95 realignment plan"

Fourteen years ago, several business and development groups prevailed in their campaign to stop the Sand Creek Byway project.

The ITD returned the money budgeted to Boise, some of which returned two years later to rebuild the Dover bridge.

Meanwhile, Sandpoint businesses continued to limp along with the increasing traffic congestion and slide closer to the edge of the economic abyss. The ever-increasing dominance of Ponderay contributed greatly to this.

Another major factor, however, has been developer Ralph Sletagar obtaining most of the eastern bank of Sand Creek in 2010 and the construction of the highly exclusive "Eastpoint" village housing and commercial project accessed from Ponderay in 2015.

During this time, property values in most of Sandpoint plummeted due to the congested traffic which most days, backs up to Sagle and north to Selle Road. Two hour or more commutes have become normal.

Last year, the ITD came back with a through town route, made more possible due to the low property values. It combined elements of previous above and subsurface features and would have clover-leafed near the Old High School Mall leading north and west.

However, a group of Eastpoint businesses calling itself: "Idaho Citizens Action for a Northern Thruway," (I-CANT) has succeeded in blocking this route as detrimental to Eastpoint. They instead are proposing a route nearly identical to the original Sand Creek alignment the group's predecessors nixed in 2007, claiming it would be more advantageous to the exclusive Eastpoint village.

LAWRENCE FURY

Sandpoint