Hayden prepares to count its traffic

HAYDEN — Plagued by increasingly cramped streets that plug traffic, the city of Hayden plans to update its traffic counts next month with an eye on street widening.

The city plans to spend $16,000 for new traffic counts, including those along streets that cross the U.S. 95 and Ramsey Road corridors in the city that extends from Hayden Lake, between Prairie Avenue and Lancaster Road, west to the Kootenai County airport.

The traffic counts, scheduled for the middle of May at 22 locations, will be applied to an updated transportation plan. The city will apply an additional $13,000 to pay for the first phase of the plan.

Hayden’s City Council must approve the expenditures, which will be paid through impact fees dedicated for capital improvements.

It’s been five years since the last time traffic was counted at key intersections in Hayden, community development director Melissa Cleveland said. The latest traffic numbers will also be plugged into an updated version of Hayden’s comprehensive plan.

“They kind of affect each other,” Cleveland said. “Land use affects traffic, so it’s good to work on those at the same time.”

The current version of the city’s comprehensive plan is more than a decade old.

With much of the growth coming at the city’s northern and western edges, both plans will zero in on changes there.

“It’s important to have a handle on what those impacts are, so we can stay ahead of them,” she said.

IDAX data solutions, a Renton, Wash., company specializing in traffic counts, will provide the numbers for an updated traffic model. Santa Ana, Calif.-based Iteris Engineering will use those numbers to update the first phase of the city’s transportation plan.

Traffic counts are scheduled the week of May 13 and will be conducted on Maple Street between Prairie and Lacey avenues, on Government Way between Prairie and Wyoming, the intersection of Reid Road and Hayden Avenue, on Ramsey between Prairie and Wyoming, and along Atlas, as well as in some of the adjacent neighborhoods.

The work will eventually be factored into road and intersection upgrades.