Stretches of an iconic Boise street will be changed. Pedestrians, bicyclists take note
Stretching from Camel’s Back Park to the Greenbelt, 8th Street is one of Boise’s iconic streets. On a busy Friday night, it can feel like the beating heart of the city in the pedestrian and cyclist-only stretch between Bannock and Front streets.
But the city wants to do more beyond this most popular strip. City officials seek to make it easier for pedestrians and cyclists to get around on other blocks of 8th, too.
On Monday, the board of Boise’s urban renewal agency approved the construction of a set of bike- and walker-friendly improvements to 8th Street on the two blocks between State and Franklin streets. It also advanced a plan to spend money to improve the street’s southern end by the Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial.
Kelly Burrows, a project manager for the agency, the Capital City Development Corp., said 8th Street is already a major pedestrian and bicycle link from Boise State University and the Greenbelt to the south to the North End, with downtown in between. But it’s not easy to travel.
“The goal is to provide a consistent, low-stress bike connection between downtown and the North End,” Burrows told the CCDC board.
Connecting to the North End
The board authorized its executive director to negotiate with McAlvain Construction Inc. to improve the northern stretch between State and Franklin streets next to Saint Michael’s Episcopal Cathedral.
“The project includes investment in public infrastructure to extend low-stress bike facilities as well as upgrade streetscapes [and] underground existing overhead utilities and improve transit facilities,” according to a staff report.
The stretch of road has two lanes for traffic heading north with on-street parking on both sides. The improvements would reduce the number of lanes to one northbound lane and move on-street parking to one side in exchange for raised and separated bike lanes heading in both directions.
The $1.5 million project would also improve streetscapes, improve on-street parking facilities to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and place overhead electrical and telephone wires underground.
Agency officials expect construction to start next March and finish six to nine months later.
“I’m just really thrilled to see this project moving forward,” said CCDC Vice Chair Latonia Haney Keith. “I think it’s going to be a fantastic way to finish out 8th Street.”
Connecting to the Greenbelt
The board also authorized negotiations for improvements to the southern end.
The agency and the city of Boise say there is an unsafe connection for pedestrians and cyclists between the 8th Street Pathway, the 9th Street Pedestrian Bridge and the Greenbelt.
“It makes it a challenge both for pedestrians and bicyclists using the area but also the adjacent users,” said Shawn Wilson, public works deputy director for the city
There are also walkway challenges among The Cabin, the Boise Public Library and the 8th Street Pathway, which share a convoluted set of intersections, sidewalks and parking lots.
The board directed the agency to negotiate a final agreement with the city, which requested $2.5 million in funding from CCDC, for Greenbelt realignment, right-of-way improvements and infrastructure upgrades.
The project would include the installation of security cameras, “major lighting improvement along the Greenbelt,” and a possible “distinctive” public space between the Wassmuth Center and the Boise Public Library.
The city expects the final design of the southern-end work to be complete in December and the construction to begin in August 2024.
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