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Consultant lays out East Lewis transportation blueprint; resident urges removing Stuart Avenue from alignment
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Summary
Kittleson consultant Lauren Nuxell presented a high‑level right‑of‑way plan prioritizing South Ridgeway and Nez Perce Drive extensions and announced a May 12 open house. Resident Nicole Hamaker urged removal of Stuart Avenue from the map, and the consultant said the alignment was shifted off the objecting property.
The Lewiston City Council heard a presentation on an East Lewis transportation network analysis intended as a high‑level blueprint to preserve rights‑of‑way and guide future development, Lauren Nuxell, a senior engineer with consultant Kittleson, told the council.
Nuxell said the study is not a construction commitment but a tool to show what arterial and collector corridors could look like and to help the city and developers plan for connectivity and emergency access. Under a medium‑build‑out scenario the team estimated roughly 47 net new trips per day for the study area and emphasized that preserving corridors now can reduce later property impacts and costs.
The consultant described a multi‑criteria evaluation (operations, land use, floodways/wetlands, cost and slope) and a fatal‑flaw analysis that removed several infeasible alternatives, including Preston Avenue. The studyʼs prioritized alignments highlight South Ridgeway and an extension of Nez Perce Drive as the highest‑ranked connections; other collector connections and a potential 16th Avenue/Cecil Enders Way link are also identified to relieve congestion near LCSC and LHS.
Lauren said project teams met with stakeholders — utilities, EMS, LCSC, the winery, and neighborhood associations — and scheduled a public open house for May 12 at Lewiston High School to solicit wider input.
During public comment, Nicole Hamaker, who said her family has owned a farm in the area since 1916 and that the property was designated an Idaho Century Farm in 2016, urged the council to remove Stuart Avenue from the plan. She said the family sold land to a Tri‑Partnership under a condition that roads and alleyways affecting the remaining farm would be vacated, and warned the proposed alignment could invite future property takings.
In response, the consultant said Stuart Avenue was redrawn to avoid the objecting property: "We took Stuart Avenue and we moved it off their land there and put in that curve, and a little bit of a longer bridge over the land there and connect it into the Cecil," she said, adding the plan aims to honor earlier commitments while preserving connectivity.
Next steps: staff said a draft plan will be available in May, an open house is scheduled for May 12 at Lewiston High School, and the team hopes to present a final plan for council adoption in June.
