State law now bars highway districts from reducing road widths or and limits where they can eliminate traffic lanes in favor of multimodal infrastructure.
Two new Idaho state laws are directly impacting Complete Streets projects in Boise, where the city has been forced to halt or change plans for three downtown street safety projects.
As Margaret Carmel explains in BoiseDev, “These new rules narrow the definition of the type of projects highway districts can build to be specifically tailored to cars and remove the authority of highway district commissioners to add pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure as a secondary aspect of a project, not the main purpose. It also blocks highway districts from reducing the width of roadways.”
The rules force Boise to change its plans for three major projects that proposed a reduction in lanes on State Street, 8th Street, and Americana Boulevard to make room for wider sidewalks and bus pullouts. “This will be the third time this section of State Street will go to the drawing board. The rebuild of the busy downtown corridor was originally designed to rebuild the entire stretch from 16th to 2nd streets in 2021, but a newly elected majority of commissioners with more of a focus on bicycle and pedestrian safety improvements opted to reject a bid for the project in 2023.”
City officials say the laws will not affect federally funded projects already underway, including 12 projects in the Boise Bench and Garden City areas.
FULL STORY: New state law ends or changes plans for State Street rebuild, two downtown Boise projects
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