Sandpoint Seeks Relief From Traffic Congestion Mayor Wants U.S. 95 Traffic Rerouted Out Of Downtown

To help ease the city’s traffic gridlock, Sandpoint Mayor David Sawyer pitched a plan Thursday to reroute U.S. Highway 95 out of the downtown business core.

The city can’t wait for construction of a Highway 95 bypass, which is years off, Sawyer told a group of state transportation officials.

“At this point I don’t care where the bypass goes or when it is built. The point is we need to do something now,” he said. “We have huge traffic congestion and close to gridlock in the summer. Right now, I have a mess on my hands.”

Sawyer asked for help from the Idaho Transportation Department and $500,000 to reroute traffic through Sandpoint.

Instead of having an estimated 35,000 cars and trucks a day barrel past businesses on First Street, the mayor proposed running them up Church Street and out Fifth Avenue.

The heavy traffic on First Street has partially crumbled a sewer line beneath it, limited downtown parking and created a hazard for people trying to cross the busy street.

Some business owners have complained the traffic is so intense they can’t open their main street doors because of the noise.

“I know a good percentage of people who don’t come to the downtown core because of the traffic congestion and no parking,” Sandpoint Councilman Francis Ogilvie said.

Transportation Department Engineer Scott Stokes said he liked the mayor’s idea. Although he wouldn’t commit to taking any action on it, Stokes said he would discuss a plan with city officials to ease the traffic congestion.

“It’s a very important need,” Stokes said. “We need to sit down and define who the players are and charge into this.”

One transportation board member, John McHugh, was a bit more skeptical.

“I think something like this would either delay a bypass or kill it,” he said.

But Sawyer contended the alternate route would work hand-in-hand with a bypass. Traffic is still going to come through Sandpoint even if a bypass is built, he said. The mayor cited a transportation department study that said even with a four-lane bypass, traffic in Sandpoint will get worse.

“All we want is $500,000 of a $17 million Sand Creek bypass budget to get a new light and some right of way to get traffic through town,” Sawyer said.

, DataTimes