Sandpoint council approves traffic alignment, intersection plan affecting Pine St.

By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff

The Sandpoint City Council made big steps toward changing how traffic will flow on First Avenue, Superior and Pine streets at its regular Dec. 20 meeting — the last gathering of the body before the new year.

Amid a lengthy agenda, councilors unanimously approved amendments to both City Code and the Multimodal Transportation Master Plan, eliminating truck routes on First, Superior and Pine in downtown Sandpoint, with the goal being to reroute heavy vehicles and relieve congestion, thus easing through traffic of passenger vehicles in residential neighborhoods in south Sandpoint.

Approval of that change dovetailed with a realignment of Pine Street to two-way traffic and, ultimately, the reconfiguration of the intersection of Pine and Fifth Avenue — the latter which doubles as U.S. Highway 2 — which would see the relocation of the current signal at Fifth and Church Street to Fifth and Pine. The council approved the reconfiguration in a unanimous vote.

The change would move the crosswalk at Euclid Avenue across Pine to a new signalized location immediately west of the Pine-Fifth intersection, as well as add a new signalized crossing on the east side of the intersection across a northbound right-hand turn lane from Pine to Fifth. 

Courtesy image.

“It is hugely beneficial and will really set us up for our downtown improvements when we’re encouraging downtown traffic not to use First Avenue as a cut through and instead use Pine,” said Sandpoint Construction Manager Holly Ellis. “It’ll also position us well for growth, so from a modeling perspective it’ll reduce stacking, so when you’re waiting for a traffic light to change on Pine, that queue will reduce by half when implementing this turn lane. It will also decrease emissions downtown, which is immensely beneficial.”

Sandpoint Police Chief Corey Coon was also in favor of the change, stating, “We really want to encourage traffic to get out of our residential area. If we make this more congested, we’re not going to see a decrease in traffic on Superior and Lake.”

Coon’s comment touched on the broader strategy of eliminating large truck traffic from main thoroughfares such as First, Superior and Pine, so that everyday motorists won’t feel the need to seek alternate routes through mostly south Sandpoint.

 “My hope is if this becomes a well-designed intersection, with the technology that they have planned, will see some of those vehicles that are using Lake and Superior as cut-through traffic now start using Pine Street because it’s more effective and faster,” Coon said, adding, “This might be one of the better designs we have.”

There were a few sticking points, however. Councilor Jason Welker questioned the elimination of the Euclid crosswalk, asking whether it would be possible to put a crossing from the south curb of Pine to Sixth Avenue, enabling south Sandpoint residents to more efficiently cross to destinations such as the Granary District. 

“I’ll probably never use the new crosswalk [at Pine and Fifth] because it’s in the wrong direction,” Welker said, noting that he is a resident of south Sandpoint.

“I foresee this as not being a very used crosswalk,” he added.

Ellis said that planners had not considered a crossing to Sixth Avenue because it would be a mid-block crosswalk, which “are just generally not safe.”

Councilors agreed to add consideration of that modification to the plan in their approved motion to go forward with the intersection design. 

Ellis summed up the intersection project as “truly designed with the intent of, ‘If you build it they will come.’”

During public comment on the agenda item related to the Fifth and Pine intersection, Sandpoint Mayor-elect Jeremy Grimm voiced some concerns about setting the plan in motion lacking an adopted Comprehensive Plan, which is intended to guide future growth and development in the city.

“First and foremost, I’d say let’s get the Comp Plan done before we move forward with this plan,” said Grimm, who will be sworn in as mayor in the first weeks of January 2024. He went on to question the use of development impact fees for the project, noting that those funds — collected from new development — are intended to pay for “deficiencies.” Incoming City Attorney Fonda Jovick, who was appointed to the role on Dec. 20 following the retirement of Andy Doman, said that while the question of the appropriateness of using impact fees for the project wasn’t germane to the immediate decision, it would be in the future. 

“This is a big one for you, so give it some thought,” Grimm told councilors.