Was roundabout meant to end Boyer truck traffic?

I thought the roundabout constructed on Boyer was a clever and cutesy sort of thing! That is, until I followed three semi-trucks, with two short septic pump semi-trucks behind me.  As the first semi-truck pulling a flatbed slowly stared into the roundabout, his trailer was unable to go around the short, narrow curves.  The trailer had to run over the red cement area.

The next semi pulling a low-boy trailer was required to follow the same pattern as the first truck!  Yep, you guessed it.  Low-boy went across the red cement.  The next semi-truck with an empty log hauling trailer was once again in the same predicament as the first two semi-trucks.  Old red got it again!

I went on around the roundabout to watch how the other two septic pump trucks would manage the short, narrow lanes.  Alas!  The short septic pump trucks were the only semi-tractor trucks that were able to negotiate those very short, narrow lanes without riding over the now bruised red cement.

I have come to the conclusion that those involved in the creation and construction of this fancy by-way, and those who approved this man made nuisance to happen sure did put a crimp into the local trucking industry.  Don’t you think that the many local trucking businesses that operate semi-trucks in and around the Sandpoint area should have been given a little more consideration in the planning and implementation of the roundabout?  Litehouse; Wes Olson Trucking; Peak Sand & Gravel; Western Transport; Hester Heavy Equipment; Interstate; etc., are just a few of the truck businesses that need to use Boyer Avenue as their route to their outlying destinations, whether they are north, south, east or west bound.  Their businesses have created jobs, helping to stabilize the economy here for many years.  The North Idaho Panhandle needs the hauler, we really don’t need the roundabout, as it produces nothing that benefits our economy!

As the promoter and payer of the roundabout, Super 1 Foods should donate the extra footage needed to widen the roundabout sufficiently, so that all who use that corridor, including the local trucking industry, would benefit immensely.  Super 1 Foods generosity would go a long way to improve the roundabout’s traffic problems, instead of adding to the already heavy traffic problems we have in Sandpoint!  Unless, of course, the roundabout was created to stop trucks from going down Boyer Avenue.  Could that be the plan?

MILLIE ELIOTT

Sandpoint