Boise Transportation Thread

[BoiseAirport]

Hello!

Seeing as much talk in our thread regarding transportation in the Treasure Valley, I felt it could be best to start a new thread so as not to distract too much from other non-transportation developments in the Boise Projects Thread. This thread can be a haven for us transportation enthusiasts or simply for those who are interested in stopping by and seeing what might be flying, driving, hang-gliding, and train-riding through our fair city's future.

So, to kick things off! Here's recent news, made official today:

http://www.ktvb.com/news/Alaska-Airl...126395898.html

Alaska Airlines to expand Boise-Seattle routes

SEATTLE -- Alaska Airlines says it's expanding service on Seattle-Spokane and Seattle-Boise routes.

The airline said Friday it will add two more daily flights on each route starting Jan. 8. The flights are already available for booking.

Here's the new Seattle schedule for next summer on Alaska/Horizon (could very well change to more or less depending on how traffic holds up):
2269 BOI-SEA, 6:45am
2391 BOI-SEA, 9:15am
2655 BOI-SEA, 10:15am*
2237 BOI-SEA, 12:35pm
2133 BOI-SEA, 3:10pm
2239 BOI-SEA, 5:05pm
2363 BOI-SEA, 6:15pm
2218 BOI-SEA, 6:32pm (1-stop in Lewiston)
2657 BOI-SEA, 7:30pm*
2399 BOI-SEA, 8:50pm

*new flight

And from several different sources, it sounds like this may be the beginning of Alaska/Horizon expansion in the Boise and Spokane markets. Whether that means more frequency, more cities, or both I'm not sure yet. May not mean anything at all other than they're looking at whether the market can support it, or if not, whether there are any other advantages to adding additional flights.

Every month (though usually about once every 4-6 months or so they'll skip a month), the Boise Airport Commission will hold meetings and presentations regarding current traffic levels, details on projects, recent news, and other miscellanious stuff going on at the airport, which gives us food to munch on. http://www.cityofboise.org/Departmen.../page3840.aspx

Here's the June 2011 presentation, the July 2011 should be here shortly.
http://www.cityofboise.org/Departmen...esentation.pdf

Top 20 airports in O&D traffic out of Boise (aka all these people at the airport, where are they going?), 2Q 2010 (routes with nonstops in bold):
1. Seattle (SEA)
2. Portland (PDX)
3. Spokane (GEG)
4. Denver (DEN)
5. Salt Lake City (SLC)
6. Las Vegas (LAS)
7. Los Angeles (LAX)
8. Phoenix (PHX)
9. Oakland (OAK)
10. San Diego (SAN)
11. Reno (RNO)
12. Sacramento (SMF)
13. Minneapolis (MSP)
14. San Francisco (SFO)
15. San Jose (SJC)
16. Orange Country (SNA)
17. Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW)
18. Chicago O'Hare (ORD)
19. Ontario, CA (ONT)
20. Orlando (MCO)

But, don't feel this thread has to be restricted to aviation or one form of transportion. This is an all-inclusive thread about anything that gets us around the Treasure Valley. Light rail news? ITD news? Highway news? Road construction news? All is welcome here!

[Cottonwood]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cottonwood
If you start a thread we should also include and discuss bike commuting too. We may not have light rail yet, but I would think we dominate in the MW region considering the bike culture and creative ways people here modify their bikes and bike trailers for their needs in order to not use an automobile. We could also discuss the plans in the metro for making bike commuting safer and adding the network of bike lanes to surface streets that don't currently have any.

Quote:
Originally Posted by City Of Trees
Completely agree. I'm a bike commuter myself so I would have plenty to contribute to that subject.

I'll wait for the thread to hunt for the Census Bureau links, but I'm pretty certain that I read in there that Boise has a higher percentage of bike commuters than San Francisco. I felt proud saying that to my brother in SF.

These two posts are from the Boise Development Thread.

[Boisebro]

Originally Posted by Cottonwood

If you start a thread we should also include and discuss bike commuting too. We may not have light rail yet, but I would think we dominate in the MW region considering the bike culture and creative ways people here modify their bikes and bike trailers for their needs in order to not use an automobile. We could also discuss the plans in the metro for making bike commuting safer and adding the network of bike lanes to surface streets that don't currently have any.

bikes??? bikes are toys for children.

i'll take my coal-powered original hummer any day over a squeaky old bicycle. i love driving around, revving the engine, blaring the horn and yelling "get off my sidewalk you dang cyclists!!!"


GOD i love boise...

[Cottonwood]

Originally Posted by Boisebro

bikes??? bikes are toys for children.

i'll take my coal-powered original hummer any day over a squeaky old bicycle. i love driving around, revving the engine, blaring the horn and yelling "get off my sidewalk you dang cyclists!!!"


GOD i love boise...

You've gotta show some appreciation for the spandex and lycra crowd.

[City Of Trees]

Since Cottonwood mentioned bike commuting as a good topic for this thread, I thought I'd start off on a topic that I know we've talked about before--making 8th Street a backbone of bike transportation through Downtown, from the river to the North End. I'll explain some thoughts that I've had on this matter in several parts.

The first section I'll start with is from the river to Front Street. Please note that this drawing that I put up is the most complex example. A far simpler solution is to completely shut down 8th Street to motorized traffic (especially from Myrtle to River)--and I certainly wouldn't oppose it. However, I have a feeling that there will have to be some compromise for loading zones, street parking, etc. As such, here's a compromise I came up with that tries to make it as safe as possible for the bikes:



The idea is to dedicate half of the street to a bike path, and the other half to one lane plus parking for motorists. You could separate it via a treed median (marked in bright green), just like what already exists on 8th Street in two places--behind the library and in between the 8th Street Marketplace.

Note the alternating directions of 8th Street for each block. The idea is to discourage thru traffic down the road as much as possible, and to prevent crossover between cars and bikes. For that latter reason, I also turned Fulton into a one-way westbound street, which is at quite a tricky intersection.

You'd also want to put a traffic signal at 8th and River. They really need one there right now anyway--there's a ton of pedestrian traffic that uses the crosswalk signal anyway. There will also need to be some green paint on the intersections with Myrtle and River as proper guides.

Finally, look at the top of the map at Front Street. I would get rid of that stupid bend in the road that makes absolutely no sense for bikes to try and get across.

[Sawtooth]

I just noticed this thread, and it is a good topic for Boise.

[andyroo]

Originally Posted by City Of Trees

Since Cottonwood mentioned bike commuting as a good topic for this thread, I thought I'd start off on a topic that I know we've talked about before--making 8th Street a backbone of bike transportation through Downtown, from the river to the North End. I'll explain some thoughts that I've had on this matter in several parts.

The first section I'll start with is from the river to Front Street. Please note that this drawing that I put up is the most complex example. A far simpler solution is to completely shut down 8th Street to motorized traffic (especially from Myrtle to River)--and I certainly wouldn't oppose it. However, I have a feeling that there will have to be some compromise for loading zones, street parking, etc. As such, here's a compromise I came up with that tries to make it as safe as possible for the bikes:



The idea is to dedicate half of the street to a bike path, and the other half to one lane plus parking for motorists. You could separate it via a treed median (marked in bright green), just like what already exists on 8th Street in two places--behind the library and in between the 8th Street Marketplace.

Note the alternating directions of 8th Street for each block. The idea is to discourage thru traffic down the road as much as possible, and to prevent crossover between cars and bikes. For that latter reason, I also turned Fulton into a one-way westbound street, which is at quite a tricky intersection.

You'd also want to put a traffic signal at 8th and River. They really need one there right now anyway--there's a ton of pedestrian traffic that uses the crosswalk signal anyway. There will also need to be some green paint on the intersections with Myrtle and River as proper guides.

Finally, look at the top of the map at Front Street. I would get rid of that stupid bend in the road that makes absolutely no sense for bikes to try and get across.

This is an amazing idea. I take 8th street everyday to work and it serves me pretty well, but an exclusive bike path would be awesome!

[BoiseAirport]

Originally Posted by andyroo

This is an amazing idea. I take 8th street everyday to work and it serves me pretty well, but an exclusive bike path would be awesome!

Agreed, excellent job City of Trees, as someone who frequently walks and bikes to downtown, I really love that idea.

July 2011 Airport Commission meeting presentation was put up. Some interesting information here and there, including photos of when the 747-8 and the 787 came into Boise (all of which I missed because I was in Kentucky ). Also included are the top 20 markets out of BOI for 4Q2010, as well as the current status and map of the future runway layout.

http://www.cityofboise.org/Departmen...esentation.pdf

Also, apparently they began construction on the Gateway project which will create a nice entrance into the Boise Airport. I'm looking forward to that. On an unrelated note, the 747-8 is doing flight tests and building hours to ensure there's nothing wrong with the airframe over periods of long, sustained use, so knowing the aircraft had to fly thousands of miles over the US in one flight anyway, I guess they decided to have a little fun with it. Notice the routing? http://flightaware.com/live/flight/BOE523

Thought that was humorous.

[BoiseAirport]

Thanks Congress.

http://www.ktvb.com/news/Treasure-Va...126737038.html

[City Of Trees]

Thanks for the kudos, folks.

I'm sorry I haven't had time to continue the 8th Street series, but in the meantime, I have some real life news to deliver on that front. In the CCDC portion of 8th Street, they have painted double yellow lines right down the middle of the street--which would seem to indicate that some form of two-way traffic is in the works. I'll try and remember to take a picture of it this afternoon.

I'm not sure what to think yet, as I'm not sure what their intentions are. It's not like the portion of 8th between Front and Broad that's offset for a bike-only lane southbound. They also still have the parking bays on the east side of the road, which would make traveling northbound very tricky, if not impossible, by car. It would seem dangerous to have southbound cars swerve into those spots while northbound bikes come, though.

It's also weird that they'd paint this lines without putting northbound branches on the traffic signals.

Thoughts?

[Cottonwood]

Cycling news Evo5Boise posted in the main Boise thread...

Originally Posted by Evo5Boise

Boise made #2 on this list for Great Cities for Cycling.

http://local.msn.com/slideshow/slide...5174&GT1=24000

[City Of Trees]

Originally Posted by City Of Trees

Thanks for the kudos, folks.

I'm sorry I haven't had time to continue the 8th Street series, but in the meantime, I have some real life news to deliver on that front. In the CCDC portion of 8th Street, they have painted double yellow lines right down the middle of the street--which would seem to indicate that some form of two-way traffic is in the works. I'll try and remember to take a picture of it this afternoon.

I'm not sure what to think yet, as I'm not sure what their intentions are. It's not like the portion of 8th between Front and Broad that's offset for a bike-only lane southbound. They also still have the parking bays on the east side of the road, which would make traveling northbound very tricky, if not impossible, by car. It would seem dangerous to have southbound cars swerve into those spots while northbound bikes come, though.

It's also weird that they'd paint this lines without putting northbound branches on the traffic signals.

Thoughts?

And now they've painted the bike logo on the road:



I tried it out yesterday, and while it gets the job done, it still feels a bit unnerving to have moving cars on one side and parked cars on the other, both going the opposite direction. It would make more sense if they moved the parking to the other side of the road. Of course, that would cost more money, so at least this is better than nothing.

I'll also be annoyed when the loading trucks stop in the bike lane...oh well.

[City Of Trees]

Originally Posted by City Of Trees

I'll also be annoyed when the loading trucks stop in the bike lane...oh well.

Well, perhaps this is mitigated a bit. According to this video, they're turning the parking down the CCDC section into a load only zone from 6-10 AM.

http://www.boiseweekly.com/CityDesk/...treet-downtown

Still, in just watching that video, you can see that some of those trucks are so big they're still going to take over the bike lane as well....

[Cottonwood]

I saw that at BW.Com and at first thought they were announcing no more cars on 8th Street just delivery trucks, then I saw the rest of the story. It would be so nice to have 8th shut off to autos (except for deliveries trucks for the shops and restuarants) and turn the street into an extension of The Grove.

[isangpogi]

Glad to see this forum up and running. It's been a couple weeks since I've been able to get on. I just moved back to Boise and am certainly happy to be back home! I've been busy unpacking, biking the greenbelt, exploring downtown and all I've missed by being away.

I am very excited about Alaska increasing their presence here. Boise really makes sense to them, as their hubs are currently just Portland and Seattle. As Alaska is right now, they only really make sense for people traveling to and from the extreme NW. They could increase their market share and presence in the intermountain west by using Boise as a minor hub. They could resume service from smaller cities in the Northwest to Boise, and then feed those passengers from Boise on to Los Angeles, Denver, Las Vegas, Reno, Phoenix and possibly DFW and ATL. This would allow people from Sun Valley, Eugene, Yakima, Tri Cities, Billings, Bozeman, Missoula, etc to fly Alaska without having to do so much backtracking in order to pass through their hubs at Portland and Seattle. Loyalty is such a huge factor in choosing an airline, and Alaska could market themselves as the Northwest's own Airline.

I know I've described this scenario on the main Boise thread before, but I wanted to echo it in a forum that makes more sense for discussion.

[boi2socal]

Alaska is pretty much the Northwest's airline already. Horizon had a hub before in Boise and it didn't work.

[BoiseAirport]

Originally Posted by boi2socal

Alaska is pretty much the Northwest's airline already. Horizon had a hub before in Boise and it didn't work.

I think a better way to put it would be "it stopped working" rather than "it didn't work." It worked well for over 10 years, however phasing out the Baby Dashes (which were perfect for the Boise base), as well as the increased presence of Southwest which cut deeply into some of the core Horizon flights is what killed the base in the early 2000s.

This list isn't 100% accurate as it's missing a few destinations that Horizon served nonstop from Boise (namely Denver, Phoenix, San Diego), and according to several Alaska/Horizon timetables I have from the mid-90s, there were several points where the number of daily flights hit 45-49. I thought you folks might find it interesting.

http://www.departedflights.com/QXBOIhub.html

[Cottonwood]

Here is an interesting link to Compass about future mass transit and the new Multimodal transportation center that is supposedly going to begin being constructed next year.

http://www.compassidaho.org/prodserv...cts-tvhcts.htm

[boi2socal]

Originally Posted by BoiseAirport

I think a better way to put it would be "it stopped working" rather than "it didn't work." It worked well for over 10 years, however phasing out the Baby Dashes (which were perfect for the Boise base), as well as the increased presence of Southwest which cut deeply into some of the core Horizon flights is what killed the base in the early 2000s.

This list isn't 100% accurate as it's missing a few destinations that Horizon served nonstop from Boise (namely Denver, Phoenix, San Diego), and according to several Alaska/Horizon timetables I have from the mid-90s, there were several points where the number of daily flights hit 45-49. I thought you folks might find it interesting.

http://www.departedflights.com/QXBOIhub.html

Right, but they don't have the Q200s anymore. It is a nice idea for another hub but it won't happen. At least not for several years. I could see Alaska trying Hawaii flights before that!

[boi2socal]

Just read 787 is on its way. BOI is a Facebook friend. haha