Boise Transportation Thread

[Cottonwood]

Street news:

http://boisestatepublicradio.org/pos...downtown-boise

Two-Way Streets A Hit In Downtown Boise

http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/l...144258514.html

ACHD considering two-way conversions on 5th, 6th streets in Downtown Boise

[el conquistador]

Originally Posted by Cottonwood

Street news:

"A hit" is a bit of a stretch, but for the most part I don't mind them. Except 13th Street. That is a mess, especially Southbound at Main in front of Idaho Mountain Touring, and Between Front and Myrtle.

Other than that, it's worked fine.

[Welcome2Boise]

I think converting all of those to two way is going to slow downtown traffic quite a bit. Call me skeptical of this idea. If it works though, then fine.

[Cottonwood]

Originally Posted by el conquistador

"A hit" is a bit of a stretch, but for the most part I don't mind them. Except 13th Street. That is a mess, especially Southbound at Main in front of Idaho Mountain Touring, and Between Front and Myrtle.

Other than that, it's worked fine.

I agree southbound 13th is frustrating when attempting to make left turns. ACHD should install green arrow lights for left turns before the northbound drivers can proceed.

Originally Posted by Welcome2Boise

I think converting all of those to two way is going to slow downtown traffic quite a bit. Call me skeptical of this idea. If it works though, then fine.

Slowing traffic down is probably a good thing especially on 6th Street. I notice people tend to speed down the current one way 6th St towards Front and Myrtle.

[OhGoodGlavin]

Haven't seen it posted, but Allegiant Air will add a flight from Boise to Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport (i.e., **not** Sky Harbor) coming this fall. Here's a link to the article: http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/l...157138789.html

To quote Sven, "Starting Oct. 6, Allegiant Airlines plans to begin nonstop service between Boise and the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. [...] The flight will operate twice weekly on Fridays and Mondays. [...] Allegiant began operating out of Boise in 2012. The airline currently offers nonstops to Las Vegas and Los Angeles."

Not a big score, but news nonetheless. Been pretty quiet and I was surprised to see Don Day report that there was no representation from the airport at the State of Downtown meeting of the Downtown Boise Association. Hopefully we'll start to see some info on the updated master plan this summer.

[Cottonwood]

This is interesting. I saw this article on a local Facebook feed and thought it is worthy to post here.


http://www.travelingtemplar.com/2016...ement.html?m=1

Sacred Alignment: The Peculiar Arrangement of the Streets of Boise

The orientation of the downtown grid in Boise, as platted by Henry C. Riggs, has perplexed me since I first noticed it. It seemed to be askew at a very peculiar angle, and to me the orientation seemed intentional. I asked around the historical community, and nobody seemed to think it strange or intentional at all, until I started asking around in the surveying community. Jack Clark, PLS was the individual who stated that everything about the arrangement of the City of Boise was Masonic. His work with the Ada County Assessor’s office, his term on the Ada County Historic Preservation Council, and the fact that he is a Licensed Professional Land Surveyor, lend considerable credibility to his assessment of the layout of the City of Boise. He explained that he thought the Capitol being centered on what would be 7th Street was significant.

He also said the named streets (which run East-West within the askew grid) were aligned to the Solstices.

The siting of the Depot tower is precisely aligned to the center of the Capitol Building intentionally to create a spectacular boulevard in the style of the City Beautiful movement.

[trails]

This is super cool! Thanks for sharing.

Originally Posted by Cottonwood

This is interesting. I saw this article on a local Facebook feed and thought it is worthy to post here.


http://www.travelingtemplar.com/2016...ement.html?m=1

Sacred Alignment: The Peculiar Arrangement of the Streets of Boise

[Sawtooth]

The Stormwater Planters on each side of the new Royal Boulevard extension to Capitol Boulevard are looking sweet.

[BoiseWins]

Frontier will return to Boise Airport in spring

Boise is one of 21 new cities that Frontier Airlines will start serving in spring, the airline announced July 18.

http://http://idahobusinessreview.com/2017/07/21/frontier-will-return-to-boise-airport-in-spring/

[Cottonwood]

http://boisestatepublicradio.org/pos...hsouth-freeway

Why Doesn't The Treasure Valley Have A North/South Freeway?

[boisecynic]

Originally Posted by Cottonwood

http://boisestatepublicradio.org/pos...hsouth-freeway

Why Doesn't The Treasure Valley Have A North/South Freeway?

I read that the other day and I don't recall the article ever giving an explanation. Regarding Eagle Road widening, as I remember it, a freeway was proposed by ITD but the land owners at Fairview and Eagle protested that it would devalue their property by limiting access. I'm nearly certain this was reported in the Statesman or other MSM and not just a conspiracy theory.

Anyone remember exactly when Eagle Road was widened from 2 lanes to 4? If I had the year I could research the Statesman archives.

[Evo5Boise]

Originally Posted by boisecynic

I read that the other day and I don't recall the article ever giving an explanation. Regarding Eagle Road widening, as I remember it, a freeway was proposed by ITD but the land owners at Fairview and Eagle protested that it would devalue their property by limiting access. I'm nearly certain this was reported in the Statesman or other MSM and not just a conspiracy theory.

Anyone remember exactly when Eagle Road was widened from 2 lanes to 4? If I had the year I could research the Statesman archives.

I don't know the exact year but my guess has to be somewhere in the mid-90s. I went to Lowell Scott 90-93 and I remember it being just 2 lanes that whole time. Man, how things have changed. That school was out in the middle of fields back then.

As for the freeway, the Boise area is really behind the 8ball here. They need to do something soon or it's going to get ugly. Even if they need to create some Expressways, they need something.

[IFBoiseJunky]

Originally Posted by Evo5Boise

As for the freeway, the Boise area is really behind the 8ball here. They need to do something soon or it's going to get ugly. Even if they need to create some Expressways, they need something.

I agree that they need to stay ahead of things and I do think they are behind on I-84 beyond Garrity in Nampa. But compared to some bigger metros they have actually done a pretty good job with the freeway IMO.

Take I-35E, the only North/South interstate through Dallas. It is still only 3 lanes each way from the north side of Dallas all the way to Denton. This in a metro area with over 6 million residents (with 2.5 million in Dallas County + more than 800,000 in Denton county). If you've ever driven that route in the last few years you would agree it is one of the worst stretches of freeway in the U.S. They just finally started with expansion and expressways in the last couple of years with major construction ongoing right now.

[DonDay]

The Dave Bieter-backed plan for a Boise railcar is moving forward - and tax dollars are headed into the project.

[Visualize]

Originally Posted by Cottonwood

http://boisestatepublicradio.org/pos...hsouth-freeway

Why Doesn't The Treasure Valley Have A North/South Freeway?

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/15/c...ump-obama.html

[Visualize]

Originally Posted by DonDay

The Dave Bieter-backed plan for a Boise railcar is moving forward - and tax dollars are headed into the project.

I don't really think the little jog across Capitol by BSU is needed at all. It's only one additional block anyone in that neighborhood would have to walk if it was just ran up Capitol the whole way. It's also going to negatively impact traffic, where if it just ran on Capitol heading back into downtown the train could get a free right from University. With the proposed design it would need to stop traffic for what is typically longer than a normal light cycle, not once, but twice as it heads east back over Capitol again. Bad idea in my opinion, unless it serves some other function.

Much better overall than the initial proposal from years back that just did a loop around Main and Idaho though.

[BOI-IDA]

Originally Posted by boisecynic

Anyone remember exactly when Eagle Road was widened from 2 lanes to 4? If I had the year I could research the Statesman archives.

The Eagle Road interchange, along with the newly widened stretch of Eagle Road from I-84 to Fairview, opened in 1989.
The Fairview to Chinden section wasn't widened until '97 or '98, IIRC.
North of Chinden to State was the last to be widened.

It seems hard to believe now, but prior to 1989, Eagle Road was just a little two-lane country road from Overland all the way into downtown Eagle, with just an overpass at I-84 (no interchange).

As a side note, when the Eagle Road interchange was being built, the old 2-lane overpass wasn't demolished. Instead, sections of it were sold to area highway departments. One is still in use on Homedale Road in Canyon County:https://www.google.com/maps/@43.6176...8!8i1664?hl=en

[boisecynic]

Originally Posted by BOI-IDA

The Eagle Road interchange, along with the newly widened stretch of Eagle Road from I-84 to Fairview, opened in 1989.
The Fairview to Chinden section wasn't widened until '97 or '98, IIRC.
North of Chinden to State was the last to be widened.

It seems hard to believe now, but prior to 1989, Eagle Road was just a little two-lane country road from Overland all the way into downtown Eagle, with just an overpass at I-84 (no interchange).

As a side note, when the Eagle Road interchange was being built, the old 2-lane overpass wasn't demolished. Instead, sections of it were sold to area highway departments. One is still in use on Homedale Road in Canyon County:https://www.google.com/maps/@43.6176...8!8i1664?hl=en

Thanks for that. And, iirc, Eagle Rd did not go south of Overland but did pick up again at Victory or Amity.

[Cottonwood]

http://idahobusinessreview.com/2017/...n-jose-flight/

Southwest adds Boise-San Jose flight

[twig]

Nvm