Road dispute shows Ada leaders still struggle to work together. How that affects you
It’s safe, the engineers said.
No it’s not, the residents said.
And just like that, the Zoom stage was set for a dispute between the Meridian City Council and the commissioners of the Ada County Highway District.
They disagree over a street-improvement project that ACHD has planned for four years, but that some City Council members, reflecting their constituents’ complaints, say is unsafe.
Polite but determined city leaders challenged equally polite but battle-hardened highway commissioners at a joint virtual meeting of the two boards Thursday, Oct. 22. Their dispute underscored that despite good intentions, elected Treasure Valley leaders still struggle at times to communicate, coordinate and collaborate with one another — and that this can affect how residents live.
The issues of the moment are pedestrian safety and driver convenience along a one-mile stretch of Eagle Road south of Interstate 84. North of I-84, Eagle Road is one of the busiest roads in Idaho. South of it, much of Eagle is still a two-lane road built for rural use. But it’s getting busier as houses keep rising in South Meridian — a fast-growing section of Idaho’s fastest-growing city.
ACHD is ready to widen Eagle Road to five lanes for one mile between Amity and Victory roads. The $5.6 million project the latest in a steady series of road widenings and related improvements to keep up with the growth.
The work will include widening a one-lane roundabout at Eagle and Amity and adding a second at Zaldia Drive, building a pedestrian-bicycle pathway along each side of Eagle Road, and adding pedestrian crossings at key street corners.
ACHD has been preparing to award a contract this month and to begin construction in November. But council members sought to interrupt that Thursday.
First-year Mayor Robert Simison spoke first and set the tone. He said he doesn’t like the roundabout at Eagle and Amity that ACHD installed a few years ago and now plans to widen to two lanes. Simison said the roundabout is not friendly to pedestrian or bicyclists, and rising traffic from new subdivisions to the south make a stoplight preferable.
Tuscany, a subdivision of $400,000 houses and Italian-named, tree-and-sidewalk-lined streets, is on the west side of Eagle Road in the mile to be widened.
“I live in Tuscany,” Simison said. “People in this area are very split about whether would prefer a roundabout versus a signal in this area. ... People are still not excited about the direction this is headed.”
First-term Councilman Treg Bernt went next. He said Tuscany residents had approached him, Simison and second-term Councilman Luke Cavener. Bernt said the residents worry about an unusual design for crosswalks planned where two residential streets, Rome Drive on the west and Dartmoor Drive on the east, join Eagle.
The crosswalks would allow one car waiting to turn onto Eagle to pull ahead of any pedestrians using the walks.
“According to Tuscany residents that have reached out to us, this is a major, major safety hazard that needs to get changed,” Bernt said.
ACHD engineers say it’s no such thing. They say letting one vehicle pull ahead of the crosswalk would actually be safer than the usual requirement that vehicles stay behind the crosswalk.
They say the proposed design acknowledges that many drivers seeking to turn onto a busy street like Eagle will pull as far ahead as possible so they can see clearly and respond quickly when an opening in traffic occurs. But by pulling forward, the drivers encourage pedestrians or bicyclists to take risks by going in front of the drivers, closer to speeding traffic.
Dave Wallace, deputy director of plans and projects, told the council that ACHD has used this crosswalk design elsewhere with good results. “It has proven to be safe and effective,” he said.
Wallace went back and forth with Bernt for awhile. Then second-term ACHD Commissioner Kent Goldthorpe, a Meridian resident, spoke up. Goldthorpe said ACHD has held more neighborhood meetings and public hearings on this project than it has for any other in his six years on the commission.
“I’m scratching my head big time to think there’s any reason that many of the neighbors, unless they were completely not interested in the process in 2016, are becoming concerned about it now, when there’s little if anything that we can do about it,” he said.
First-year Councilwoman Jessica Perrault said she would rather have a traffic signal at Amity and Eagle than the roundabout. Six-year councilman Brad Hoaglun said the flare-up over the crosswalks might be “a communication issue with the neighbors.”
Meridian seeks support for Linder Road overpass
In the same meeting, the two boards managed to find common ground on another issue: an overpass for Linder Road at I-84.
Linder stops on each side of the freeway. City leaders and regional planners say an overpass connecting Linder’s segments would speed commerce and alleviate traffic on parallel roads, including Ten Mile Road to the west and Meridian Road to the east.
But the overpass hasn’t been high on either ACHD’s or the Idaho Transportation Department’s priority lists. ITD would pay for the bridge itself. ACHD would pay for the Linder improvements on each side.
Simison told ACHD commissioners that city leaders want the overpass so much that it is “worth downgrading” other road projects in Meridian to get it built instead. The City Council previously has considered coughing up $1 million from city taxpayers to entice the highway agencies to get the job done.
ACHD Executive Director Bruce Wong said a rough estimate places the project’s cost at $20 million or more.
The conversational back-and-forth elicited disagreements about whether to widen Linder to three lanes or five on both sides of the overpass. The highway commissioners took no vote and made no firm commitment. But the commissioners’ comments suggested no opposition, only support.
The two boards decided to ask the Ada County Commission to join in signing a letter to the Idaho Transportation Board. The state controls I-84 and would have to approve the overpass.
“I think that would get the attention of ITD, to get that ball rolling, to show that coordinated effort,” said Mary May, the ACHD Commission president.
That encouraged Simison.
“I think if nothing else, that’s a great outcome from this conversation today,” he said.
Commission may override council on Eagle Road
But on the Eagle Road widening, the ACHD commissioners stood by their engineers’ safety judgments and the public process the district followed before it settled on the roundabouts and the pedestrian crossings.
The most ACHD commissioners agreed to do was to consider whatever a Meridian representative tells the commission after the City Council discusses its concerns at the council’s next meeting Tuesday. The commission plans to vote on the contract Wednesday.
Third-term Councilman Joe Borton asked ACHD to provide safety data so that the council could consider it promptly and “provide you with an informed decision” about its wishes. First-term Councilwoman Liz Strader agreed.
The commissioners said time had all but run out. Wong said turning the Eagle-Amity roundabout into a traditional intersection would cost $3 million and delay the project two years. Three-term Commissioner Sara Baker said much of the Eagle Road work must be performed this fall and winter, when no water is flowing through the Tenmile Feeder Canal that crosses Eagle Road.
If the project were shelved, “It would be a major hit to the taxpayers of Ada County,” Baker said. “I’m not inclined to change this project. It’s been there forever.”
At one point, Cavener asked whether the city’s voice counts with ACHD.
“I think sometimes there is ... frustration, from some members of the public that they voice concern or opposition and those ... come with the perception of falling on deaf ears,” he said.
But Cavener tried to soften his comment’s impact. He credited ACHD commissioners for their “many many years of service ... I know that you truly care.” He asked how Meridian “can be a better partner” to the highway district.
May pointed out that a Meridian city employee already has been working with ACHD on the Eagle Road project. “We take all input that we get very seriously,” she said. “Communication, councilman, is key.”
Another answer came from an ACHD employee, Ryan Cutler, a senior project manager in charge of the Eagle Road project.
“Projects that we’re going to build in 2025 are running through the process now,” Cutler said. “The earlier you can get in on that process, the better.”
This story was originally published October 26, 2020 at 10:34 AM.
