Nampa details $5 million RAISE projects including bridge, pathway and curb-ramp work

Nampa public works staff on Tuesday gave City Council a broad update on projects funded by the $5,000,000 Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant the city received in 2022, including sidewalk and curb‑ramp repairs, a new bridge design, intersection work and a potential pedestrian overpass.

The RAISE program is paying fully for design work on the portfolio, Crystal (Public Works) told council during the staff communications item. “That is the only time I will say it forevermore. I will refer to it as Ray’s,” she added, drawing a laugh from the dais.

The grant funds six headline efforts: a multimodal analysis that will produce five “shelf‑ready” curb‑ramp and sidewalk construction packages (estimated construction packages of about $200,000–$500,000 each); a Mobility Hubs guidebook for transit and stop design; Project 1 (Northside Boulevard and Fourth Street intersections plus replacement of a single‑lane bridge on Broadmoor Way over Indian Creek); Project 2 (rehab of Sixth Street and a portion of Second Avenue North, including at‑grade rail crossings and a sidewalk on the bridge over Phyllis Canal); Project 3 (a concept study for a pedestrian overpass in the Fourteenth Avenue / Sixteenth Street corridor); Project 4 (Sixteenth Avenue at Sixth Street intersection improvements and likely a pedestrian hybrid beacon); Project 5 (a 1.6‑mile Indian Creek pathway extension); and Project 6 (evaluation of the First Street North and Third Street North rail underpasses and permanent dewatering where needed).

“The multimodal analysis … yields five shelf‑ready projects that we can go after” with other grants such as Community Development Block Grant and Transportation Alternatives, Crystal said. She said design work kicked off in mid‑2024 and the contractually required completion date for the entire RAISE program is March 1, 2027.

Council asked for details about specific items. On Broadmoor Way, Crystal said RAISE is funding design and developers have agreed to pay a portion of construction costs for the bridge replacement; the city will need to find the remaining construction funding. She said renegotiations with federal partners yielded an additional bridge project within the program: “So we got two bridges out of the deal instead of one.”

On the proposed pedestrian overpass (Project 3), staff said they are studying three alternatives — including doing nothing, improving an existing Sixteenth Street bridge for pedestrians, or building a new pedestrian bridge near Fourteenth Avenue with gradual ramps (switchbacks or spirals) instead of one long ramp that would require excessive right‑of‑way. The study will produce concept‑level designs and a recommended alternative.

Councilmembers raised questions about safety and liability for low rail underpasses. When asked who is liable after an overheight vehicle strikes a low bridge, Crystal replied: “It’s the vehicles. So we have adequate signage, actually. We’re still looking for different opportunities … like blinky lights that tell people when they’re over the heights. We’re flirting with the idea of … a metal bar, like when you enter a parking garage.”

Staff said they will bring regular project updates to council, intend to package smaller design‑ready projects for other grants, and can pursue grant applications for any design packages completed before the March 2027 deadline.

This RAISE program is intended to improve pedestrian and transit connections in areas with known deficiencies, staff said, and to create a set of projects the city can implement when matching funds or other grant opportunities become available.

Council requested staff return with quarterly updates and to add notes in future reports about the likely construction funding sources for each project.

Ending: Council did not take a formal vote on the RAISE status update; staff will return with quarterly progress reports and contest‑specific funding plans.