Downtown street options unveiled

SANDPOINT — The folks at SERA Architects had a busy couple of days this week.

Between a slew of meetings with various interest groups and steering committees on Wednesday and a public forum at Cedar Street Bridge on Thursday, there were a lot of interested residents eager to hear ideas for a vibrant and safe downtown.

“People are making due with what’s out there,” SERA representative Allison Wildman said. “It’s not great, but it could be great. And this is our chance to do it.”

SERA engineers came bearing three different concepts  for the downtown streets, with particular attention paid to First Avenue and Cedar Street. Each offered its own advantages and disadvantages.

The first is themed around a celebratory atmosphere and focuses on creating a visually-pleasing, pedestrian-friendly environment that would encourage people to spend their leisure time in downtown Sandpoint.

It combines a super-wide 20-foot sidewalk and eight-foot parallel parking on either side of 12-foot  travel lanes. With so much sidewalk space, that allows for more creative design options and other perks like outdoor seating.

Concept two focuses on balancing the many needs that downtown Sandpoint must meet. It doesn’t offer as big a character and aesthetic upgrade as the first option but compensates with the best bike safety and accessibility options.

The road configuration is divided between 14-foot sidewalks, eight-foot parallel parking spaces, six-foot bike lanes, and 12-foot traffic lanes.

Those bike lanes are useful in a variety of ways, making vulnerable bicyclists more predictable for motorists and serving as a buffer between parked and moving cars.

Accommodation is  the priority in the third design. The concept addresses a concern downtown merchants have had for years: parking. By switching from parallel parking to 45-degree angle parking, the third option increases parking capacity by as much as 78 percent.

The choice also lends stylistic streetscape options by tying the parking and sidewalk together with the same paver or scored concrete design.

However, officials said it is the worst option for bikers due to angled parking blind spots and wide curb-to-curb distance. Give that the concept calls for 15.5 feet of sidewalk, nine feet of angled parking space, two travel lanes at 12 feet each, plus another 8 feet of parking space and 14 feet of sidewalk on the opposite side of the street, it’s also a space hog.         

Luckily, Sand Creek gives the city even more options. The back side of First Avenue could be used for additional parking. While that idea struck some steering committee members as a misuse of the lakeside beauty, SERA representatives had ideas to help attract people as well as cars.

For one thing, the area closest to the water could be converted into a multi-use path decorated by iconic artwork. Alternatively, the space would be well-suited for amphitheater-style seating complete with a floating stage.

A stepped promenade was a third alternative. Designers can mix and match elements from all three ideas to create something both functional and unique to Sandpoint.