Input sought for downtown street options

SANDPOINT — Residents have a chance to catch a sneak preview of highway-free downtown streets Monday evening.

In preparation for the return of downtown streets to city control, council members hired consultant firm SERA Architects to provide a vision for what such an outcome could eventually look like. Their work so far has been packaged up and ready for inspection at a Monday meeting scheduled from 5-7 p.m. at the Sandpoint City Hall council chambers. Attendees are welcome to stop by anytime to inspect the work on display.

Council members already knew a few things they wanted from newly designed downtown streets — two-way traffic flow, ample vegetation, bicycle and pedestrian friendliness and easy access to City Beach, just to name a few.

Based on those necessities, SERA architects have created six interactive stations for visitors to peruse. Each station is divided into a different category, illustrating the existing conditions, the opportunities and constraints, the existing downtown street standards, an interactive street design model, public spaces, landscape and stormwater considerations and links to the lake, including systems to handle bicycle and pedestrian connections.

Many other events need to fall into place before re-imagined downtown streets can become a reality. The Sand Creek Byway needs to open, for one thing. For another, the connector, known locally as the Curve, that will divert U.S. 2 traffic from the Sandpoint downtown needs to be completed, an event that will likely not occur until 2013 at the earliest. However, early downtown street concepts will give city officials a solid idea of design options best suited to a more walkable downtown and easy access to its signature businesses.