Wouldn't a byway be nice?

The new summer slogan for Sandpoint should be: "Welcome to traffic hell."

As we enter the throes of another busy summer, it is easy to envision this beautiful North Idaho town without tractor trailers hauling stinking livestock, pedestrians running for their lives across intersections and tourists and locals alike driving the wrong way on one-way streets.

Bonner County's county seat must get Idaho's north/south highway out of the center of town.

We need a byway that doesn't move all traffic miles from the center of Sandpoint. We need a byway that doesn't have to destroy many homes to be built. We need a byway that can actually be built. (Sorry tunnel and catapult backers!)

It appears the last two pieces of the regulatory pie are coming together. The Army Corps of Engineers will soon put its stamp of approval on the proposed Sand Creek byway. The Union Pacific railroad appears to be waiting for the Corps to go first.

When that happens, a vocal (but well financed) minority will attempt to file a lawsuit trying to pick apart the Idaho Transportation Department's plan.

ITD has purposely taken its time to make sure its byway ducks are in a row. It will be interesting court drama.

Nobody has come up with a more feasible route than Sand Creek but there are a few people who are saying "anywhere but Sand Creek."

Here are a couple of certainties:

? Traffic in Sandpoint will continue to increase. I believe it is at a dangerous level right now.

? State funding isn't going to wait around for the next, great byway plan. The bulk of the land for the Sand Creek byway was purchased nearly 80 years ago.

? The great kingdom of Boise has all sorts of uses for the millions of dollars allocated to the byway. A good hint is that money won't leave Ada County.

I can't imagine this area getting any funding for any byway in the future considering the financial woes in our state mixed with our geographical location (outside of eyesight and earshot of Boise).

? Constructions costs aren't going down.

It's time to build a byway around the heart of Sandpoint.

As traffic backs up at nearly every intersection and the inevitable wrecks and injuries occur. Isn't it high time we get the unwanted traffic out of Sandpoint and actually become a walking town?

It's something to think about while we are stuck in traffic this summer.

David Keyes is publisher of the Daily Bee.