Centennial Trail getting new link to downtown CdA

When the idea of North Idaho’s Centennial Trail was conceived in the late ‘80s, the vision was to follow the Spokane River as closely as possible as the paved pathway entered Coeur d’Alene from the west.

The road’s milelong shoulder along busy Northwest Boulevard was to be just a temporary route.

In about a month, bicyclists can stop fighting traffic and say goodbye to the 15-year-old temporary route.

Construction is under way and expected to be done by June 4 on a “class 1” pedestrian-bike path that extends from the intersection of Northwest Boulevard and Seltice Way east to the North Idaho College campus.

While the 12-foot wide trail closely parallels Northwest Boulevard near Seltice Way and alongside the Stimson sawmill near NIC, it offers a safe, seamless, nonmotorized route to the college and downtown Coeur d’Alene.

“It’s so cool to see this thing we’ve been working on and working on for years and now it’s happening,” said Mike Gridley, a Coeur d’Alene city attorney.

A grand opening is being planned for July, he said.

Making the new trail segment possible was the new 78-acre Riverstone development on west end of Northwest Boulevard.

The development includes office buildings, retail stores, a multiplex theater and condominiums with the trail running through the former sawmill property.

Annexation of the Riverstone development to Coeur d’Alene was partially contingent on developer John Stone giving the city access to the property for the trail and rough grading the trail through the property.

Part of the trail work is already complete, but construction now is on the segment from Beebe Boulevard in Riverstone to the riverfront, and from there to Lincoln Way.

Also critical to the trail’s construction was permission from BNSF Railway Co. and Union Pacific Railroad to cross their tracks at four separate locations and encroach on their 100-foot right of way.

“That was no easy process,” said Doug Eastwood, city parks director.

He credits Gridley, a former Union Pacific employee, for reaching agreements with the railroads: “He spoke their language.”

Gridley said it helped that the city owns the underlying property.

The new segment of the bike path follows the river and passes underneath U.S. Highway 95’s Spokane River bridge parallel to the BNSF railroad tracks that carry one train a day to the Stimson DeArmond mill.

At the mill, the trail meanders around the log yard, between trees and through an alley.

“We’ve weaved it around, trying to save trees and trying accommodate other traffic,” Gridley said.

A fence will separate the trail from the railroad and the mill operations.

The new milelong trail segment is costing $498,000 to build, 90 percent of which was paid for through a federal transportation enhancement grant, Eastwood said.

While serious bicyclists and some commuters might still use Northwest Boulevard as a more direct route to their destinations, Eastwood and Gridley predict a lot of traffic on the new trail.

“The two biggest user groups will be the recreational users and your work commuter,” Eastwood said.

“The amount of use will increase once we get it off Northwest Boulevard because Northwest Boulevard was so unsafe. I think a lot of parents didn’t let their kids ride in that corridor.”

The Centennial Trail is 23 miles long in Idaho, extending from Higgens Point on the northeast end of Lake Coeur d’Alene to the Idaho-Washington border. From there, the trail continues 39 miles into Washington.

Trail advocates aren’t resting once the latest segment is complete, however.

The North Idaho Centennial Trail Foundation is currently working on an effort to turn a five-mile Union Pacific spur line that runs from U.S. Highway 41 on the Rathdrum Prairie to Seltice Way into another bike path that will link the city’s northwest neighborhoods with downtown.

The foundation has been granted the right to take over the line, and it has until September to raise the money to purchase it, Gridley said.