Sandpoint officials pushing for new traffic plan

SANDPOINT — The city unveiled a conceptual plan Friday to reconfigure downtown traffic patterns as part of its quest to gain control of streets that serve as highway routes.

The City Council is slated to take up the proposal when it meets on Wednesday. The plan proposes:

• Restoring two-way traffic on Fifth Avenue between Pine and Cedar streets

• Restoring two-way traffic on Church Street between First Avenue and Fifth

• Restoring two-way traffic on Pine between First and Fifth

• Installing a traffic signal at Fifth and Church

• Removing the traffic signal at Pine and Fifth

The plan would prohibit left turns from Fifth onto Pine. Southbound Fifth Avenue traffic would use Church to gain access to the Long Bridge.

Proposed traffic patterns on First Avenue north of Church and on Cedar between First and Fifth are not disclosed in the proposal.

Mayor Carrie Logan went before the Idaho Transportation Board in Coeur d’Alene on Friday to request up to $2.5 million in state funding for the reconfiguration.

Logan said the city is willing to contribute to the project by securing easements and providing streetlights, street trees and conduit for fiber optic cables.

“We are very excited about what is planned. We are presenting the plan to our council this coming Wednesday and expect concurrence from them as well,” Logan told the board.

The transportation board’s District 1 representative, Jim Coleman, advised the board that the city acknowledges there will be sacrifices with the proposed configuration.

“Sandpoint fully understands there’s going to be some delays in peak-hour traffic on their east-west traffic across Fifth Avenue with this change. Even then they said, ‘We can live with it because, as we all know, people are going to find another way to get across town,’” said Coleman.

Logan said the city is cognizant of the impact the proposal could have on side streets, noting that the city’s urban area transportation plan recognizes there will be congestion on those routes.

“That’s our philosophy. We believe it in because the cost involved with infrastructure and we don’t believe that addressing streets should be done specifically for peak-hour traffic,” said Logan.

The transportation board took the funding request under advisement.

“Hopefully we can put something together,” said board Chairman Jerry Whitehead.

The latest plan comes a year after the city rejected a $7.5 million Idaho Transportation Department plan to improve U.S. Highway 2’s connection with Fifth, which carries traffic for U.S. 95.

The project, known as the Curve, was a precursor to the state’s relinquishment of downtown streets that double as highway routes now that the Sand Creek Byway has been built.

The city hopes to implement the new traffic plan during the 2015 construction season.

• The proposal can be downloaded from the city’s website (www.cityofsandpoint.com) by clicking on meeting agendas/minutes button near the top of the page.