Cameras to capture good, bad and ugly

Kootenai County residents envious of all the traffic information available online in Spokane County may soon have their own Interstate 90 cameras monitoring traffic and highlighting trouble spots.

Planners with the Idaho Transportation Department, highway districts and cities are considering installing cameras and weather sensors along I-90 from the Washington state line into Coeur d’Alene, as well as adding message boards on the freeway and nearby arterials.

The 18 cameras would monitor traffic and could be used to help emergency crews and identify congestion and poor road conditions. Eight message boards would warn drivers about traffic jams, construction, Amber alerts and severe weather, said Hicham Chatila, with The Transpo Group, which has been hired to report on building a Kootenai County transportation information system.

Such a system would be phased in over several years, said Chatila.

The system could be integrated with the Spokane Regional Traffic Management Center’s system. Images from its cameras are online at www.srtmc.org.

“We’re so close to Spokane. We’re really one community in many ways,” said Andrea Paroni Storjohann, ITD’s assistant district engineer.

Most of the Spokane-area cameras are on I-90, but more will be placed along Division Street as far north as Francis Avenue next year, and there are plans to add cameras to the Maple-Ash corridor.

Cameras are also being installed along I-90 between Medical Lake and U.S. Highway 195.

Costs for the North Idaho system are still unclear, as are staffing levels, but transportation planners will focus on those issues in the coming months.

The Spokane-area system is paid for and maintained by a coalition including the Washington State Department of Transportation, Spokane County and cities.

Message boards have already been useful along I-90 in Idaho, said Storjohann. During Thanksgiving weekend, they warned drivers of inclement mountain weather and possible slowdowns along the freeway near downtown Coeur d’Alene exits before the Friday fireworks display.

Another kind of camera

Cameras designed to catch bad guys rather than monitor traffic will be installed this month in Post Falls.

The color and infrared cameras will most likely be attached to the I-90 McGuire Road overpass, where they will read license plates, checking for stolen vehicles, wanted people and missing children, said Post Falls police Lt. Scot Haug.

Three other cameras will be installed on law enforcement vehicles so that Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene police as well as the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department can patrol other roadways on the lookout for flagged plates.

“It’s the first time that technology like this is going to be used in Idaho,” said Haug.

He explained what would happen in a hypothetical Amber Alert situation if a camera captured the image of the license plate of the suspected kidnapper.

“When it gets a hit, it sends out an audible tone and pops up a picture of the plate and the vehicle in the patrol car and at dispatch,” he said.

The cameras are being paid for with a $116,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Leaf pickup or plowing

Spokane crews will continue collecting leaves from city streets if they have enough snow-free days to do so. The schedule could change with snow, however, since crews will be moved to plowing.

Residents are asked to move vehicles off the street for both leaf pickup and plowing. Residential streets are only cleared if there is 4 inches or more of snow and only after crews have plowed arterials and residential hill routes.

This week’s leaf pickup schedule:

Monday: Lidgerwood area bounded by Francis Avenue, Garland Avenue, Perry Street and Division Street; and the Gonzaga area bounded by Empire Avenue, Boone Avenue, Crestline Street and Division Street.

Tuesday: Lidgerwood and Gonzaga areas again.

Wednesday: Esmeralda area bounded by Francis, Upriver Drive, Havana Street and Perry/Market streets; Lincoln Heights area bounded by 29th Avenue, the south city limits, the east city limits and Perry/Cook; and Gonzaga area again.

Thursday: Esmeralda and Lincoln Heights areas again.

Friday: the central business district.

Slow going

Downtown Spokane

Spokane Falls Boulevard lanes will be closed near Riverpoint Boulevard Wednesday-Friday for work on the Washington State University Nursing School.

Lane closures continue on Post Street near Spokane Falls Boulevard.

North Spokane

Lanes will be closed on Wellesley Avenue Tuesday between Perry Street and Helena Street for tree removal.

Signal work at Waikiki and North Five Mile Road could cause closures of North Five Mile Road.

Signal work at Hastings and Mill Road could cause lane closures.