Cda Road Project May Have To Wait Storm Water Plans Must Be Changed

The Lake City may have to wait two more years before starting a project to widen Government Way.

Coeur d’Alene City Engineer Gordon Dobler told city officials Monday that the U.S. Department of Resources has problems with the design to handle storm water along the project.

“It’s a late hit,” Dobler said. “It will delay the project.”

Plans called for widening Government Way next year to four lanes from the Interstate 90 bridge to Appleway Avenue. From Appleway, the road will be widened to five lanes to Dalton Avenue.

To handle storm water, the city’s design included using Storm Ceptors, which are located behind the curb and use a sedimentation chamber to separate dirt and pollutants out of the water.

“We are just finding out it is not an approved method,” Dobler said.

Instead, federal officials want the city to use grassy swales, which collect runoff water and allow grass roots to soak up pollutants from the water.

That change will require a major redesign, Dobler said.

“The bottom line is that construction will probably be in 2003 instead of 2001,” he said.

The original plan would have started the Government Way project at the same time the city and state want to reconstruct Northwest Boulevard.

Those two projects proceeding at the same time would have tied up traffic on two of Coeur d’Alene’s major north-south corridors.

“That is the positive aspect of this, we will avoid some traffic problems,” Dobler said.

Federal money will pay for 90 percent of the $6 million project. The city’s portion is expected to be about $600,000.

Dobler hopes to proceed with buying the right-of-way despite the delay. If another project falls through, construction could begin in 2002.

City Councilwoman Dixie Reid welcomed the change if it will make the Government Way project better.

“We would have been ready” to start next year, she said. “You don’t want to put things off. But, you want to do things right.”