Upgrades en route to Coeur d'Alene's Government Way

The persistent red lights on Government Way could be green for longer next year. 

The Coeur d’Alene City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a $2.3 million contract with Thorco, Inc., for the Government Way Signal and ADA Improvements Project.

It also approved a “sole source purchase request” to spend about $1.5 million with Western Systems for traffic light equipment. 

Scheduled to begin next spring, the project is expected to improve traffic flow on the busy north-south corridor that sees more than 16,000 vehicles pass through its intersections daily. 

“I think people will appreciate it,” said Councilor Dan Gookin. “It’s going to move things right along.” 

The City Council approved a contract with Welch Comer Engineers in August 2023 to begin design of traffic signal and ADA improvements for the Government Way corridor and to prepare a Strategic Initiatives grant application. 

In January, it was awarded a $4.8 million grant from the Local Highway Technical Assistance Council. The grant funds were released last month.

Todd Feusier, Streets and Engineering Department director, said 10 intersections starting at Harrison Avenue and north to Prairie Avenue will be improved. 

“This is one of our major corridors,” he said. 

Planned upgrades include new pedestrian ramps, signal heads, push buttons, signal controllers and cabinets, detection, radio communication and corridor coordination. Traffic light posts will be painted black. 

“It’s been needed for a long time,” Feusier said. 

The Prairie Avenue traffic light improvements will be a partnership between Coeur d'Alene and Hayden. 

Feusier said the signal lights will be connected, basically able to communicate via radio to improve traffic flow, and a traffic study has been done over the past eight months to create a signal coordination plan to synchronize the lights. 

Most intersections will be upgraded to video detection. Cameras would be for detection purposes only. 

Current signal lights have detection to let the signal controller know when a vehicle arrives, but each signal operates independently. 

That will change.

“They have to be compatible with each other. They have to talk to each other," Feusier said. 

The council also voted Tuesday to declare “there is only one vendor reasonably available for the purchase of traffic signal equipment for the Government Way Signal Improvement project,” and authorized the purchase of the equipment from Western Systems. 

“It would cost us a lot of money to change the brand and the software we are currently using,” Feusier said. 

The Streets and Engineering Department maintains over 50 traffic signals throughout the city, a staff report said. 

“Western Systems is the only vendor in our region that supplies the brands and types of traffic signal products that are used in all of our signals,” a city report said.  

The city’s traffic signals use the same equipment for compatibility and availability of service, Feusier said.

"This compatibility allows the signals to communicate with each other which will provide coordination along a corridor and makes replacing parts seamless when maintenance is needed,” a city report said. “And it is critical that the supplier be located close to Coeur d’Alene in order to provide timely response to equipment failures."

Councilor Christie Wood liked what she heard. 

“It's really going to be incredible,” she said. 

Thorco’s was the only bid, which Feusier said came in lower than anticipated. 

“As the project goes on, we have to give any money back we don’t use,” he said, adding they expect to spend it all. 

Gookin said the improved traffic flow should be especially helpful at Harrison Avenue and Government Way

“I hate that intersection,” he said.  

Feusier said the city is looking for another grant next year for similar work on Ramsey Road north of Kathleen Avenue to Prairie Avenue.