Cd'A aims to improve Government Way flow

COEUR d’ALENE — City traffic counts estimate that more than 16,000 vehicles pass through Coeur d'Alene's busiest sections of Government Way each day.

The drivers of those cars, trucks and SUVs spend what is probably an aggravating amount of time going from one red light to the next.

City officials are hoping to change that by improving traffic flow with Government Way Strategic Initiatives funding.

Engineer Chris Bosley said the city has been studying ways to better signal lights coordination on Government Way.

He recently received approval from the general services/public works committee for a $45,000 agreement with Welch Comer Engineers for the Government Way Strategic Initiatives Funding and Phase 1 Preliminary Signal Upgrade and Coordination Design.

The request will go to the City Council when it meets at 6 tonight.

Bosley said the request is being made now because there is a grant opportunity through the Local Highway Technical Assistance Council of up to $10 million for such projects.

The city is hoping for $5 to $6 million. No matching funds would be required.

The funds would be used, Bosley said, to upgrade up to 10 signals, depending on the funding amount, from Harrison Avenue to Prairie Avenue.

The pedestrian signal heads, pushbuttons and ramps would be upgraded to meet current ADA requirements. Some older signal controllers would be upgraded and video detection would be upgraded where needed.

Radio communication would be added so the signals would communicate with each other. A signal coordination plan would be developed by traffic engineers to synchronize the lights.

"The signals will talk to each other and we can get some progression going through the corridor rather than arriving on red lights," Bosley said.

He said the current lights have detection to let the signal controller know when a vehicle arrives, but each signal operates independent of the others.

"That is why you might luck out and get green lights as you travel the corridor or you might be unlucky and get multiple red lights," he wrote.

The cameras would be for detection purposes only, he said. They will have both video and radar. The video detects vehicles at the stop bar and the radar detects approaching vehicles further up the corridor.

"The detection cameras are important for synchronizing the signals, but the biggest missing piece right now is communication between them," Bosley wrote.

The project would also add left-turn lights at some intersections that don’t have them. These would provide flashing yellow yields and green arrows for left-turning traffic.

City Council member Christie Wood said in speaking with police about traffic management, synchronized lights to improve flow could "change everything" and reduce accidents.

Bosley agreed.

He said it would remove a lot of the frustration drivers have when they keep arriving at red lights.

"They’re more likely to run a red light because they’re already frustrated because they got stopped at the last one," he said.

Bosley said the project does not have to be fully designed to receive grant money, but an agreement with Welch Comer regarding Government Way design would improve their chances.

"We will get more points toward the scoring if we get an engineering firm under contract," he said.

The Prairie Avenue traffic light improvements would be a partnership between the cities of Coeur d'Alene and Hayden.

Council member Dan English said it was a great project and had his support.