City council approves additions to multi-modal plan

SANDPOINT — At a meeting Wednesday night, council members voted to adopt proposed additions on Division Avenue to improve safety and traffic flow through the city’s Multimodal Transportation Master Plan.

On average, approximately 6,600 vehicles travel Division on a given day, said Preston Stinger, the city’s consultant with Fehr and Peers.

An analysis of crash data showed that, while most crashes did not cause serious injury, many involved cars turning left hit by oncoming traffic. The two intersections with the most crashes were at Pine Street and Cedar Street with eight and five crashes respectively.

The firm also analyzed traffic and safety,working with an audit team that included school, city, county and police officials, he said.

That audit found several areas in need of improvement. Some of the more costly recommendations included the removal of electric poles currently situated in the middle of sidewalks, which block pedestrians and limit visibility for traffic turning onto Division.

Another is to restripe some of the lanes on Division, making room for a grass landing strip buffering the road from a sidewalk and a multi-modal pathway respectively.

Other recommended solutions could be made quickly and relatively cheaply, Stinger said.

One challenge on Division Avenue is that cars frequently cut into the two-way left turn lane and use it as a left turn lane too early, which can result in crashes, he said. To fix this, the lane could be re-striped to extend the left turn lane on Pine and Cedar streets.

The group also observed frequent jaywalking between the intersections of Cedar and Spruce streets, and recommended adding a crosswalk at Fir to alleviate this issue.

In addition, the group recommended added speed limit signs with flashing yellow lights during peak school hours as opposed to the current signage for 20 miles per hour in a school zone that is in effect at all times.

“You often see low compliance when [the 20 mph school zone limit] is in effect all the time,” Stinger said.

Other major concerns included intersections where bushes or electric poles blocked visibility for cars turning onto Division, a lack of non-ADA compliant ramps at intersections, poor signage at the schools, poor lighting at night and a lack of amenities at bus stops.

These recommendations for Division, said Public Works Director Amanda Wilson, are also closely tied to previous recommendations that would reroute freight trucks onto Baldy Mountain Road.

“They are not very compatible with the current use,” she said. “We need to get truck traffic off of Division.”

The council also heard a brief presentation from Wilson on Sandpoint’s drinking water master plan.

Wilson noted that although further details would be presented at a later meeting, an analysis of current data showed that the city will need to invest just over $30 million into the drinking water system.

That price tag factors in potential growth to the west, Wilson said.

Next, she said, the city will be looking into a water rate study to determine how rates may need to be adjusted to continue to provide drinking water in the coming decades.

The city also heard from City Administrator Jennifer Stapleton, who announced the city will be hosting the second of three weekly workshops seeking feedback on the Multimodal Transportation Master Plan at 6 p.m. over Zoom video conference.

Those interested in participating can register on the city’s website, sandpointidaho.gov, and may also view a video of the previous session.

This week’s topic will be safety issues and proposed improvements along Division Avenue, Stapleton said, as well as our bicycle and pedestrian networks.