Council gears up to reroute trucks

SANDPOINT — City officials hope a new truck route approved by the City Council on Wednesday will create a better flow of traffic through Sandpoint.

Following community concern about truck traffic downtown, the council initiated conversations to determine a route that would keep commercial trucks out of the downtown core. The new route, which will require amendments to the Multi-Modal Transportation Plan, will exclude First Avenue, and Superior, Church, and Pine streets, Holly Ellis, Sandpoint construction manager, said during her presentation. 

Instead of using Pine Street to travel from the Long Bridge west through town, trucks will be directed to continue on U.S. 95 and take the exit for U.S. 2. Changing the truck route also means clarifying the route in city code and defining commercial trucks as larger than 26,000 pounds. 

Now that the Idaho Transportation Department’s project to increase clearance on Fifth Avenue is complete, the highway can accommodate more commercial trucks and facilitate the proposed truck route revision, Ellis said. The ITD, based on desires from the council, has agreed to post selective exclusionary signage, which is enforceable and managed by local law enforcement. 

“Honestly, I think a lot of our violators are local truck users, logging trucks, gravel trucks, lowboys, those sorts of things,” Police Chief Corey said. “Once a few citations are issued, I think you’ll curb the behavior quickly. 

Councilor Jason Welker asked city staff to consider prioritizing public engagement and awareness regarding the new route. 

“Going straight to enforcement is never, I think, the best approach,” Welker said. “It’s really important that we get word out so that we don’t just start punishing our local trucking industry and we do try to educate them as much as possible about this change.”

In response to his request, Coon said that in the past the department has contacted mills, logging companies, and other businesses that require a transportation component, and he plans to do the same this time around. 

Sandpoint City Administrator Jennifer Stapleton said enforcement will not be applied until ITD establishes signage. While the truck route is effective immediately, enforcement will not begin until spring 2024, she said. 

Penalties and fees will be enforced by state code, which requires drivers to obey traffic laws including traffic control devices. As an infraction, Coon said that, while he can’t quote exact fines, he estimates they will be around $100. 

“Police will take a commonsense approach in identifying local deliveries versus trucks using the route as a long-haul cut through,” Coon said.

A majority of truck traffic concerns were sparked following the council’s conversation about moving a traffic signal from Church Street to Pine Street. With this change, more truck traffic would be encouraged downtown due to the navigational ease the new light would create, so the council and staff worked to develop the solution for the new truck route.

Ellis offered details about a recent truck traffic analysis regarding statistics that can inform the council how to best move forward. According to the study, the traffic light change would have the most drastic impact on Fifth Avenue, increasing the existing amount of truck traffic from seven percent to 16% with the new truck route. However, Pine Street truck traffic currently sits at 7% of vehicles; with the route change it is expected to decrease to 3%. Should the truck route have stayed the same, truck traffic would likely have increased on that street to about 10%.

The new East-West Connection, which was developed following frustrations from the community regarding cut-through traffic and timing at light signals, would convert Pine Street to two-way travel between Fifth and Fourth avenues and convert the Fifth and Pine intersection to a full-access signalized intersection. Meanwhile, Fifth Avenue and Church Street will be converted to a side street stop-controlled intersection. Both the U.S. 2/Sixth Avenue and U.S. 2/Euclid Avenue intersections are expected to be converted to right-in, right-out intersections. Current designs also arrange for the crosswalk across Fifth Avenue from Euclid Avenue to be relocated east to Pine/Fifth. Ellis stated that this change is suggested to create safer roads by eliminating the need for a mid-block crosswalk and giving pedestrians a place to cross at a signaled intersection. 

However, Welker voiced concerns about the relocation of the crosswalk, noting that many pedestrians would opt to jaywalk as opposed to going out of their way, creating further safety hazards. 

“This is personally a crosswalk that I use nearly daily,” he said. “It’s usually heading to a place such as Evan’s Brothers or Matchwood. I could see people that I know, including myself, probably not taking a right on Highway 2 and going down to Pine Street to cross, rather heading in the direction they’re going and just jaywalking. Because, to be honest I’ll probably never use the new crosswalk … it’s just in the wrong direction.”

Instead, he suggested adding an additional crosswalk in the vicinity of Sixth Avenue and U.S. 2. He said this would create a more efficient design for pedestrians who are residents of south Sandpoint. With his request to consider that change moving forward, the council unanimously approved the preliminary design. 

The design will be finalized and the project will be bid on in winter 2024. Public outreach will also be happening at this time. In February 2024, the council will be requested to award a construction project. Further outreach and construction will occur in fall 2024.