ITD not doing area any favors with bypass plan

It is incredible that an ITD board member would say he is approving the Sand Creek highway bid as 'a favor, not because it is the right thing to do.' For whom is he doing a favor?'Certainly not Sandpoint or Bonner County citizens and definitely not Idaho taxpayers.'Approving a project to build a highway right smack through the center of downtown Sandpoint cannot possibly be a 'favor' for anyone that I can think of, unless it is the contractor who receives the $98.4 million contract.

When the Sand Creek highway is built, nearly two miles of scenic waterfront will be destroyed and we will still have cattle trucks going through downtown Sandpoint.' The noise and odors will just be moved one block over from where they are now.

When future generations ask, with tears welling in their eyes, 'Why?'How could this have happened?” the only answer will be 'Because they did not know what they had until it was gone.”

Eventually, a proper bypass will be built; one that actually routes highway traffic (including Highway 2 traffic) around the town, not through it.”'

Eventually, the Sand Creek highway will be torn down and the waterfront area restored.'But this may take years, even decades. In the meantime, the Sand Creek highway will stand as a grotesque monument to short-sighted thinking and wasteful misuse of taxpayer money.

THOMAS NELSON

Sandpoint