Cedar Street final design is unveiled
This screen shot from a presentation at Sandpoint's special City Council meeting Monday shows the three species of trees chosen for Cedar Street and a color-coded map of where each species will be placed.
This screenshot from a February City Council meeting depicts what the sidewalk along Cedar Street will look like when the first phase of the city's downtown revitalization project is complete.
SANDPOINT — City Council members got a sneak peek at the final design of the upcoming Cedar Street project during a special council meeting Monday.
Dennis Fuller from Century West Engineering said few changes were made in the final design since his last update in February concerning the first phase of the city's downtown revitalization project. The first phase, which is slated to begin in June, encompasses Cedar Street between Second and Fifth avenues.
Cedar Street will be getting wider sidewalks to support pedestrian traffic, new street furniture, storm gardens and more. With the storm gardens, seat walls will be added near the bulbouts on each corner.
Fuller said the main changes made in the final design were the removal of several storm gardens that were not needed. The removal will add more pedestrian space and make room for future art. Also, some of the benches were moved to mid-block, further away from the seat walls to spread out the seating areas.
Fuller said three species of trees will go in along the street to add some diversity, including one flowering species. The species will include Honey Locust, Green Vase and Flowering Pear. Representatives from the city's Historic Preservation Committee suggested no Honey Locust trees because they are "too messy and attract bugs," but Fuller said it was added to the design.
While Cedar Street will eventually be converted to two-way traffic, along with several other downtown streets, it will be one-way during the construction period.
As part of the first phase of the downtown revitalization project, a sewer main will be replaced on First Avenue beginning in late August. First will be closed to traffic from north of Pine Street to south of Lake Street during the first part of the replacement. Fuller presented a map of traffic detours, which will use Church Street, Third Avenue and Superior Street to get around the construction. The sewer replacement will be done in four parts, so the detours will change somewhat as the work progresses.
"I don't have a tentative date for the detours," Fuller said. "We won't know that until a contractor submits his schedule of work."
All of the work along Cedar and First is scheduled for completion by the end of October. No work will be done during events such as Lost in the '50s, the Fourth of July and the Festival at Sandpoint.
Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.