Two-way street plans detailed

SANDPOINT — The road work on Fifth Avenue between Pine and Cedar is just the beginning of a project to revert downtown streets back to two-way traffic.

City officials released a "conceptual" map of what the downtown streets could look like when the phases are complete, though none of the plans have been finalized yet, said Jennifer Stapleton, Sandpoint city administrator.

Stapleton said the two-way revision will provide better access to businesses downtown, traffic calming and improves pedestrian and bike safety.

"It really gives us the opportunity to have the sense of a downtown core as a destination rather than a destination for some and a pass-through point for many others coming through," Stapleton said.

The Fifth Avenue project, under management of the Idaho Transportation Department, began in mid-August and is expected to be completed by mid-November. Earthworks Northwest, of Sandpoint, is the contractor for the $2.1 million project, according to an ITD press release last month.

“With this project that ITD is working on with Fifth Avenue, the (Highway) 2/200 corridor will go through Fifth Avenue and not the the downtown streets,” said Ryan Luttmann, Public Works director for the city of Sandpoint.

The Highway 2/200 corridor connects the Kootenai, Ponderay, Sandpoint and Dover communities.

Currently, workers are reassembling the corners of the intersections along Fifth Avenue to allow larger trucks the ability to turn either direction when the two-way is complete, Luttmann said. He also said, as the conceptual map shows, the traffic light at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Pine Street will be removed and one will be added to the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Church Street. No left turn will be allowed from Fifth Avenue onto Pine Street when the work is complete.

Luttmann said Sandpoint is the hub for three routes — Highway 95, Highway 2 and Highway 200. With the byway project, Highway 95 no longer goes through Sandpoint.

"That reversion back to two-way can happen once we don't have a state route downtown anymore," Luttmann said.

Stapleton said city officials are in final negotiations with an engineering consultant to help with the final planning and phasing of the downtown street reversion, to which she was referring to the area of First Avenue and Cedar Street. Plans will not be finalized, she said, until after sufficient opportunity for public input. City officials will require the consultant to have an office downtown so they are accessible to the public and the business owners downtown.

"Our priority focus in negotiation, right now, has been ensuring that they have plans for an adequate, and what we see as effective, public input process," Stapleton said.

Luttmann said what they are looking for with that public involvement is how they should phase the projects over the next three years. He said the first phase of the project, if things go well, should be presented to City Council on Oct. 3. The plan was developed with the 2012 Downtown Streets Guide, which can be found on the city’s website. Luttmann said as they look at phasing and discussing the reversion, on First and Cedar in particular, it is a good time to revisit that plan.

The conceptual map shows most of the downtown streets, including Church Street, which is currently a one-way, as two-way streets with the exception of Main Street between Fifth and Third avenues, and one block of Pine Street between Fifth and Fourth Avenues. Some intersections show limitations of right-turn only, such as the Fifth and Pine intersection Church and Bridge Streets onto First Avenue. ITD will be in charge of re-striping Pine Street, First Avenue and Cedar Streets, while the city will be responsible for the re-striping on Church Street.

Luttmann said revising the area of First Avenue and Cedar from three lanes to two lanes also opens the door for angled parking spaces, which would allow more spaces per block than parallel parking.

“I think that is something businesses have been excited about,” Luttman said.

Stapleton said a website will be up soon with information, graphics and updates regarding the downtown projects. The website will also include signup opportunities for the public to get information about street closures and notices for public input opportunities, both electronically and in-person.

The conceptual map and 2012 Downtown Street Guide can be found on the city's website www.cityofsandpoint.com.