New life for Highway 41 pathway
POST FALLS - The pedestrian pathway project along Highway 41 isn't headed for the shelf after all.
About $55,000 worth of engineering work was spent on the project with urban renewal funds on the east side of the highway from Seltice Way, under the Interstate 90 overpass, to Mullan Avenue.
The project appeared to be dead when the total estimate rose from $725,000 to $982,000 due to more work than originally thought, including removal of water lines.
But it received new life on Thursday when the Post Falls Urban Renewal Agency voted 4-2 to allow JUB Engineers to continue working on the project after it stopped per the agency's request.
Commissioner Peter Smith said he thinks it makes sense to allow engineering work to continue for another $20,000 as originally planned to see if the total project cost can be reduced once more exploration is done.
"Right now we've taken $55,000 and lit it on fire," he said.
Commissioner Tim Short and city engineer Bill Melvin said engineers are close to having a better idea of what the total estimated cost will be. There are also other options, such as narrowing the pathway from 10 feet to 8, that may make a difference.
There's currently a dirt path that commissioners refer to as a "goat trail" in the corridor. Proponents say a paved pathway would make the stretch safer and reduce the amount of bikers and walkers using the busy highway.
Commissioners Bobbi Rollins and Hilde Shetler joined Smith and Short in allowing engineering work to proceed, while Larry Carstensen and Jerry Baltzell sought to end it. Commissioner Dave Holloway wasn't present.
Baltzell said he thought the project would be simpler when it was originally approved and believed the $725,000 cap was even high for the quarter-mile stretch.
"It took on a life of its own," Baltzell said. "I have a problem with it getting way beyond our concept and looking the community in the face and saying, 'This is a good deal for you.' It just costs too much money, especially in today's economy."
The project, in the works for nearly two years, is part of the East Post Falls URD set to expire in 2015.
In other business, the agency:
* unanimously agreed to allow the city to continue negotiating with landowners on right of way acquisition to punch Spencer Street north of Ponderosa Elementary through from Second Avenue to Seltice Way to improve traffic circulation; and
* authorized up to $10,000 to be spent on preliminary design work for improvements in the city center along Spokane Street.
The improvements would create an alternative Centennial Trail crossing at Railroad Avenue to improve safety, a median on Spokane from Fourth to the Spokane River bridge, a pedestrian pathway on the west side of Spokane from Fourth to the bridge and a traffic signal at Fourth and Spokane.