Outlaw Wheels City Ordinance Bans Bikes, Boards Downtown

Smooth pavement may make skateboarding and biking on downtown sidewalks attractive, but police say it’s also illegal.

Bicycles, skateboards and in-line skates are banned from sidewalks that tend, especially in the summer, to get jammed with foot traffic.

“You get a skateboard or bike cruising at 15 or 20 miles an hour and they hit somebody walking on the sidewalk, the probability is that somebody is going to get hurt,” said Coeur d’Alene police Capt. Ken Timmons.

Timmons said officers are out trying to spread awareness of the law before summer.

Terry Brinton, 13, said he likes to skateboard on downtown sidewalks because of the smooth pavement and curbs he can jump. But that got him a warning from police Thursday.

“There’s hardly any other places for us to skate,” said Joel English, 13, explaining that tree roots have upended other sidewalks. English also got a warning for skateboarding on a downtown sidewalk.

Bikes, skateboards and in-line skates are not allowed on Sherman Avenue sidewalks from First Street to Sixth Street, according to a city ordinance. They also aren’t allowed on Front Avenue’s north sidewalk or Lakeside Avenue’s south sidewalk.

Bicyclists are encouraged to ride in the street instead.

But skateboards and in-line skates are not allowed in the roadways in those areas, according to the ordinance.

“We’re just concerned about the safety of the public in a small congested area of downtown,” Timmons said. “The ordinance is there to protect the public and the skateboarders and bicyclers. We don’t want anybody to get hurt.”

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: WOMAN CRITICAL Janice Everhart, 49, a Spokesman-Review ad executive in CdA, remained in a coma Thursday. She was struck by a bicycle Tuesday in Spokane.