‘Not Only Is It Safer, It’s Fun’ Centennial Trail Section Between Coeur D’Alene And Post Falls Reopens With Fresh Blacktop

Families, fitness fanatics and self-propelled commuters now have a safe route between Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls.

Work on a 3-1/2-mile section of the Centennial Trail was finished last week, and the fresh blacktop is open to the public.

“It’s a lot nicer than having Seltice Way to ride on,” said bicyclist Gayle McCalmant of Coeur d’Alene, who rides the Centennial Trail to Spokane and back two or three times a week.

He stopped for a drink of water at the Huetter rest stop during a ride Wednesday. The trail winds through the ponderosa pines in the back of the rest stop. A row of bike racks invites bicyclists to stop and use the facilities.

“Sometimes I’d drive to Post Falls to avoid Seltice,” McCalmant said. The new trail section, which runs parallel to the eastbound lanes of Interstate 90, is isolated from other traffic and crosses over busy Huetter and Atlas roads on brightly painted bridges.

Not only is it safer, McCalmant said, but “it’s fun. It’s not flat and it has curves.”

Before this summer’s trail work, the trail stopped at Atlas Road and started again on Ross Point Road in Post Falls. Now the trail is virtually uninterrupted from Higgens Point east of Coeur d’Alene to Spokane, 11 years after efforts to build the trail started.

“I thought we’d have it all done in a couple years time frame,” said Bob Macdonald, former Kootenai County commissioner and longtime member of the Centennial Trail Foundation.

The foundation’s work isn’t through, Macdonald said. Not only does the trail need some safety improvements and a few short connections, but more ambitious plans are being discussed.

“I’d like to see a trail system that connects all the cities in Kootenai County,” Macdonald said.

More immediate needs include a connector between the new section of trail at state Highway 41 and the bike lane on Ross Point Road in Post Falls. Also considered a safety problem is the section of trail that’s just a bike lane along busy Northwest Boulevard in Coeur d’Alene.

The lane runs on one side of the major arterial because a middle turn lane was added to the street this summer.

“No one thinks it’s safe, but it’s the best we can do,” Macdonald said. “We’d like to look at some day going along the river.”

The latest section of trail cost $1.2 million to build, and was nearly derailed when the foundation couldn’t come up with enough matching funds to secure a $1.1 million federal grant.

The city of Post Falls balked when it was asked to come up with $70,000 - its share of the matching funds. The city only came up with $35,000, arguing that years ago it spent $122,000 on trail easements.

A private donor came through at the last minute. Dick DeArmond, a longtime Coeur d’Alene resident and founder of Idaho Forest Industries, donated the money in memory of his wife, who loved the trail.

Macdonald said the foundation intends to have a plaque made honoring DeArmond and placed along the trail.

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