Sandpoint adds four-way stops

SANDPOINT — As the city moves into its transportation master planning process, a number of recent efforts have already been implemented, including four-way stop signs at Fourth and Church, and Third and Cedar.

Next week, on Sept. 25, another four-way stop will be installed as well at Division Avenue and Pine Street.

“If you have experienced that intersection at this time of year, it is interesting to say the least,” said Amanda Wilson, Infrastructure and Development Services manager for the city. “… Every single mode of transportation experiences issues at that intersection. It is a truck route, and there are three schools on Division, not to mention multiple daycares, the senior center — there are just a lot of different uses that are not always compatible.”

The city has been monitoring the intersection and has received a lot of feedback from the community as well, Wilson said. A safety audit will be done along the Division corridor, she said, so the four-way is an interim solution until that is complete. “We have been monitoring that, and I think that providing a solution there, even if it is an interim solution, is going to be advantageous not only from a safety perspective, but also a speed aspect,” Wilson said, adding that stop signs are not the only method of reducing speed, but they “certainly do help.”

Because there are currently no stops from Highway 2, all the way north to Division and Baldy, Wilson said it is essentially a free-flow corridor.

Depending on the outcome of the safety audit, the four-way may become permanent, or it may be determined that another solution is a better fit for the area, Wilson said.

“In the meantime, we are just trying to take action to make it safer for everyone,” she said.

The four-way at Church and Fourth was also an effort to improve safety, as the incident/collision rate is highest at that intersection, Wilson said in an email to the Daily Bee. Due to the volume of traffic on Church, she said, it is difficult for motorists heading north or south on Fourth to safely navigate through the intersection or onto Church.

“Pine (Street) traffic is diverted to Fourth, and we expect to see more thru-traffic using Fourth over Second or Third because of the controlled intersection,” Wilson said. “Motorists tend to redirect to where they know they can safely get out.”

Wilson announced the installation of the four-way stop for Division and Pine during Wednesday’s City Council meeting as she detailed the master plan. The goal of the Multimodal Transportation Master Plan, Wilson said, is to look at all modes of transportation, which includes walking, bikes, buses, cars and more. It has been more than 10 years since the city last updated its transportation plan, and there has been a “tremendous” amount of local and regional growth since then that impacts transportation, she said.

A number of projects have been completed since then also, including the reversion of the downtown streets from one-way to two-way, as well as the roundabouts at Larch and Boyer, and Schweitzer Cutoff Road.

“All of those projects, those larger capital improvement projects, have been included in past plans,” Wilson said. “So progress has been made as a result of the past plans, and we are hoping to get it up to date.”

For information and a transportation plan schedule, go to bit.ly/2m0BV0H.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.