Some Boise trails may soon get one-way travel rules, alternating days for bikers, hikers
A handful of Boise Foothills trails may see new rules next month on what direction users can travel and which days some groups can use the trails as officials try to mitigate heavy traffic on popular routes.
Ridge to Rivers, the agency that oversees more than 200 miles of trails near Boise, said Friday that it proposes to implement directional travel starting in April on two trails and scheduled use days on a third. A pedestrian-only route would be created on a fourth trail.
The changes are the result of a user survey that Ridge to Rivers officials said generated more than 4,400 responses. The survey opened in late January after a public meeting in which Ridge to Rivers Executive Director David Gordon said solutions were needed for the overcrowding on trails.
Traffic shot up on the system during the coronavirus pandemic, and the Boise, Idaho, area’s rapidly growing population has also been a strain, Gordon said.
Under the plan, the Polecat Loop and Around the Mountain trails would become directional, meaning all users would travel the trails counter-clockwise. The goal is to reduce conflicts between users traveling in opposite directions.
Two other proposals are still being finessed:
▪ Allowing downhill mountain bike travel on Lower Hulls Gulch trail only on odd-numbered days of the month (all other users, including hikers, runners and uphill mountain bikers, would use the trail only on even-numbered days).
▪ Creating a pedestrian-only route alongside Bucktrail Trail while allowing mountain bikers to use the original route.
Ridge to Rivers has launched a second survey to fine-tune those two proposals. It’s available online at RidgeToRivers.org and will close March 29.
The agency proposes to implement all four proposals in April in a trial period lasting until this fall. It will seek support from the Boise City Council before putting the changes into effect.
Other results from Ridge to Rivers’ initial survey, including feedback on off-leash dog rules and fines for users damaging muddy trails, are still being analyzed, officials said.
