[Vision2020] The East Third Street bridge is a dangerous idea

[Moscow Cares]

Courtesy of today's (August 11, 2017) Moscow-Pullman Daily News with special thanks to Amy Ball . . . and a couple friends for bringing this column to my attention.
 
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Their View: The East Third Street bridge is a dangerous idea

By Amy Ball, president of Citizens for a Livable Community

Citizens for a Livable Community Inc. is a nonprofit organization, dedicated to preserving Moscow's quality of life. As president, I speak for the group in saying that in matters involving transportation, community planning, historic preservation and social justice, we advocate for safeguarding children, seniors, bicyclists and people with disabilities and for protecting Moscow's iconic historic districts.

At Moscow's budget hearing for fiscal year 2018, we were dismayed by the City Council's apparent disregard for public safety, sound planning, historic preservation, and sustainable transportation. We were confounded by a process that made it hard to ascertain the status of an on-again, off-again controversial Third Street bridge project that many community members oppose.

The council unanimously approved an $80 million budget ($6 million more than last year and $23 million more than FY 2014). One $580,000 line item we discovered too late is for a motor vehicle bridge on Third Street at Mountain View. For years, community members have championed a much less expensive bicycle-pedestrian-only crossing at that sensitive location, raising more than $15,000 toward that goal. In the city's own survey in 2010, 66 percent of respondents agreed. CLC has collected nearly 500 signatures of people who agree.

Why, we reasoned, would anyone invite more traffic jams on Third at Washington, Main or Jackson downtown? Why would local officials risk damaging the nationally listed Fort Russell Neighborhood Historic District, lessening property values and diminishing the city's share of property taxes? Why would someone endanger children walking to Lena Whitmore Elementary or Moscow High schools, or seniors and people with disabilities who navigate Third on foot, in wheelchairs or on bicycles because of its relatively flat grade? Why would councilors ignore more than 10 pedestrian-generating sites along Third east from Washington and add an estimated 5,000-plus cars and trucks to that neighborhood? How could Moscow's elected officials fail to protect the social and economic value of East City Park, home to the Renaissance Fair, Rendezvous in the Park, Rendezvous for Kids, Moscow Arts Commission Band concerts, children's stage productions and much more?

A motor vehicle bridge at Third and Mountain View might get eastside commuters to Pullman a minute or two sooner, but at what cost? It's a short-sighted, dangerous idea.

Even between rush hours, Third Street, which becomes Pullman Road or Highway 270 on the west side of town, is already congested with through-bound car and truck traffic. Pedestrians and bicyclists traversing that street or crossing driveways of businesses along the trip to the state line are at risk. If a motor vehicle bridge were built at the east end of Third, then the entire eastern portion of Third would effectively become an extension of the Pullman-Moscow highway, chopping the historic residential neighborhood in two, making downtown less desirable as a destination, and placing more vulnerable non-motorized users in danger.

Citizens for a Livable Community Inc. supports quality of life for all of Moscow, now and in the future. We understand pressures of development, but recognize that a connected grid of streets, irrespective of surrounding uses, is not a universal solution, especially when present uses are so delicately balanced and long-established as they are along East Third Street.

There are alternatives. Improve state Highway 8, the Troy Highway, the efficient arterial access to Mountain View Road and neighborhoods to the east. Other, more meandering routes slow speeds and diffuse traffic. Long-range planning for transportation infrastructure, public transit, and walkable, bikeable neighborhoods will reduce conflict in the future.

A bicycle-pedestrian crossing over Paradise Creek on Third Street at Mountain View is a wonderful idea. A motor vehicle bridge is not. Please join us in delivering that message to Moscow's elected officials and those who would succeed them.

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Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)
http://www.MoscowCares.com
  
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
  
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