Sandpoint committee reviews bikeway examples, map audit and multimodal priorities for Phase 3 downtown work

Members of the Sandpoint Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee spent the April 9 meeting reviewing bikeway design options and discussing the committee’s route-audit work to inform Phase 3 of downtown revitalization.

Associate Planner Eric Brubaker opened a slide-and-video presentation showing several U.S. examples of bikeway treatments — including Minneapolis’ Bryant Avenue, Bloomington, Indiana’s 7th Street connector, Seattle’s Bell Street shared-space design, Boise’s pedestrianized 8th Street and Cincinnati’s Little Miami Trail. “Be willing to learn from other places, learn from their mistakes, not just their successes,” Brubaker told the committee as he walked through trade-offs such as removing parking to make room for protected lanes, signalized intersections that delay bicyclists, and transitions where dedicated facilities end in residential blocks.

Committee work teams reported they are conducting a physical audit of posted bike routes to identify missing signage and faded paint. Members flagged several local problem areas: the 6th Street wide crossing at Main/Cedar, sections of Boyer with heavy trailer traffic in summer, and locations where mapped bike routes vanish on the city’s printable map. Katie Steepledon and others said online map tiles are hard to print and disappear when zoomed out, and they asked staff to work with GIS to make a mobile-friendly, printable map.

Brubaker said the city’s multimodal plan will be the guiding policy document and encouraged the committee to provide draft suggestions that could later be couched as potential amendments when the city formally opens the multimodal plan for revision. He also flagged a near-term opportunity: Cedar Avenue reconstruction and the West Hill Library area could create a critical east–west bikeway connection.