Deputy City Administrator responds to a comment from letstalk ("Ah, and those of us living in the area are just thinking,' why couldn't they have just put in a stupid light.' Leave it to government to make a simple job much more complicated.")

"Thanks for the wonderful question! I apologize if that information hasn't come across your screen before as we've tried very hard to put out a lot of information prior to the design (including two very well attended public meetings at Frontier Ice Arena) and after to ensure the community was aware of all of the opportunities this project has to offer.

"This is not simply a reconstruction of Seltice Way within Coeur d'Alene but a complete revitalization of the corridor. We're working to think long-term on this project, knowing there are likely to be thousands more residents in that area over the next five, 10, or 15 years. With all of those residents come more pedestrians and bicyclists and we want to ensure this corridor looks and feels like a City streetscape and not a highway.

"That's where the shared use path off street and the on-street bike lanes come in. And, as we were reviewing traffic flow, public safety factors, costs, and speeds, our engineering folks realized that a roundabout would actually be more cost effective to construct than new traffic signals. This is a rare situation, because typically the construction of a roundabout costs more (but long-term maintenance is cheaper). In this case, we have ample right of way to avoid those increased costs we might typically experience when building this type of intersection.

"Roundabouts severely reduce the most dangerous and potentially life threatening types of crashes, they are cheaper to maintain and thus save taxpayers money in the long-run, and they enhance traffic flow.

"Initially we planned for one roundabout at Atlas and during the public meeting residents in the area also asked us to consider one at Grand Mill Lane. Having two will be a great benefit in terms of costs and traffic flow."