Downtown update
<p>Ron Rojas, crew chief for Welch Comer Engineers, surveys an area of the construction site between the Coeur d’Alene Resort and Sherman Avenue on Tuesday. Crews have removed lawns and landscaping in the area after breaking ground last week.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - Asphalt and concrete are being stripped in several downtown areas as the city finishes up projects they hope to complete this spring.
Traffic in downtown Coeur d'Alene is being detoured around Sherman Avenue at Third Street this week while upgrades are made as part of the McEuen Park and Front Avenue reconstruction projects.
Crews started Monday with sidewalk, street and traffic signal work to transform Third Street downtown from one-way southbound to a two-way arterial from Front to Lakeside Avenue. During construction, east-west traffic is being rerouted to Lakeside at Second and Fifth Streets.
Although traffic will not be allowed to cross at Third or Sherman, on-street parking will be available for a half-block on the 200 and 300 blocks of Sherman near the work site.
Pedestrian traffic in the construction zone will also be restricted at the intersection. Access to all businesses will remain open throughout construction. The street closure is expected to last five days.
Meanwhile, the city has begun a two-year, $400,000 sidewalk reconstruction project that will be focused on the downtown area. That project will be ongoing through the summer months.
"We're trying to get an early start on eliminating some of the more serious trip hazards before spring," said Coeur d'Alene Street Superintendent Tim Martin. "With unseasonably dry weather, street crews would love to start pulling sidewalk and looking at the tree and grate issues on Sherman Avenue at Seventh Street to Independence Point and Lakeside Avenue at Eighth Street to Independence Point."
Upgrade of the sidewalks will call for the removal of several trees that are either in poor health, are causing damage to sidewalks as their roots grow, or encroaching on pedestrian traffic. The encroachment issue currently puts the city in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
About eight trees will be removed along the downtown corridor, mostly in the area of Fifth and Seventh streets along Sherman Avenue, Martin said.
Sidewalk repairs include the removal of trees, installation of pedestrian ramps on street corners, and pouring new sidewalks in the affected areas.
Coeur d'Alene Downtown Association Manager Terry Cooper said the city and his association are working closely with business owners and tenants through the process.
"Our goal is to do the work before business picks up during the summer months," Cooper said in a city press release.
The right turn lane along Sherman between First and Second streets is also closed while crews work to widen and re-align the Centennial Trail between City Park and the new McEuen Park.
That project is scheduled for completion in May, but work will continue through June on a portion of the project, which is permanently closing Front Avenue between Second and Third streets to make way for a new pedestrian corridor.