ITD not NICAN holding up Sand Creek byway

Dr. Pete Heraper's letter (Feb. 22, Daily Bee) contains the usual mis-statements of fact regarding the Sand Creek highway spouted by fans of the project.

To whit: We can argue 'til the cows come home about what percent of the people are for or against putting a highway in the creek. There's no way to get statistically accurate results from a poll or survey, which is why NICAN hasn't pursued that option in order to settle this argument for once and for all. There is no basis for your claim that most of the local citizenry want the highway up Sand Creek.

It is not true that NICAN's actions have delayed the project. The project has been delayed due to major changes like dumping 84,000 cubic yards of fill in the creek and 30,000 cubic yards of dredging in the creek, which includes dredging to re-locate the main channel.

The filling and dredging requires an Army Corps of Engineers permit before construction can begin. The permit has not been issued because ITD has failed to provide complete and accurate information to the Corps. ITD added the dredging to the application two years after submitting the original application to the Corps in 2004.

Another major hurdle, which NICAN has zero influence over, is the acquisition of right of way property from Burlington Northern Railroad. ITD has been in negotiations with the railroad for four years and there is still no sign of a deal. Yet ITD has been saying for two years that "it's close." ITD has also stated that construction will begin "this fall" or "next spring" since 2003.

Your statement that the cost of the project has increased due to opponents' actions is patently untrue. Recent news articles have focused on the rising costs of highway construction, shortfalls in transportation funding and projects getting postponed.

We recently questioned ITD's priorities. Clearly the reconstruction of the dilapidated Dover Bridge should be a higher priority than the Sand Creek highway — which is hung up in a regulatory morass of ITD's own doing and for which the right of way is in limbo, perhaps for years to come.

According to the new Idaho Transportation Department improvement plan the cost of the Sand Creek project has risen to more than $102 million.

That's a lot of taxpayer dollars for a project that ITD admits will not solve Sandpoint's traffic problems and which would replace our waterfront with a nosy elevated highway. Do I hear 'boondoggle'?

LIZ SEDLER

NICAN

Sandpoint