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'The biggest bang for the buck'

by MADISON HARDY
Staff Writer | August 26, 2021 1:00 AM

Health Corridor stakeholders will soon review the final list of transportation projects developers believe could save key traffic signals from failing over the next 20 years. 

The Health Corridor Urban Renewal District is a multi-phased project spread out over the next two decades to encourage economic development, high-paying employment and improve infrastructure around the Kootenai County health care industry. 

Coeur d’Alene City Council approved the district in 2019, encompassing 260 acres of land surrounding Kootenai Health — the largest employer and medical provider in Kootenai County.

Following council approval, district stakeholders — the Kootenai Metropolitan Planning Organization, ignite cda, city of Coeur d’Alene, and the Idaho Transportation Department — contracted with DOWL to study existing and future transportation needs. 

“The Health Corridor Master Plan itself addressed the immediate vicinity within the corridor but did not address all of the congestion needed by the background growth,” DOWL senior project manager Dave Simmons said. 

Since the last open house in June, DOWL project representatives have updated the three previous transportation implementation plans. Of the three plans, DOWL developed a “recommended” build-out scenario geared at supporting growth over the next two decades.   

Simmons explained that the “recommended” plan in another open house last week adds to projects listed in the Health Corridor Master Plan and includes short-term traffic solutions. 

Those projects include:

• Medians on Northwest Boulevard and the U.S. 95, 

• The Julia Street Overpass with frontage extensions,

• Improvements to the Northwest Boulevard interchange,

• Parallel east-west local access roads south of Ironwood Drive,

• Ironwood Drive access management projects that would close or remove driveways,

• Additional frontage roads from Julia Street to the Northwest Boulevard interchange

The two alternative scenarios generated by DOWL are:

• The no-build scenario: Developers would only update roadways around the district through transportation plans currently identified by state and regional agencies. 

• The master plan scenario: District will include projects identified in the 2019 Health Corridor Master Plan and the no-build strategy. 

Of the three scenarios developed through DOWL’s study, the “recommended” built-out alternative would leave only one traffic signal at or near failure. Those signals include Seltice Way and Atlas Road, U.S. 95 intersections at Neider, Appleway and Lacrosse Avenues, and Northwest Boulevard signals at Lacrosse Avenue and Ironwood Drive. By comparison, the other two scenarios would leave either six or nine intersections overwhelmed by growth demands. 

“These recommended built alternatives helped provide the biggest bang for the buck in terms of reducing congestion and getting in and out of the district itself,” Simmons said. 

Thinking short-term, the DOWL study believes officials should re-evaluate the timing of signals along Northwest Boulevard and the U.S. 95 corridor, which carry north-south traffic around the district. 

Of all the projects, Simmons and DOWL senior transportation engineer Adam Miles expressed that the other frontage roads to Interstate 90 and U.S. 95 and the Julia Street Overpass would likely significantly impact drivers. While those projects will not alleviate all traffic in the corridor, Simmons said it would be less than if no improvements occurred. 

“Northwest Boulevard would have just progressively gotten worse,” he said. “A lot of this is to maintain adequate levels of traffic flow that is just dealing with the background traffic.”