City Seeking Grants for East Side Pathways

MOSCOW – The Moscow Transportation Commission unanimously endorsed the city’s application for two grants to enhance pedestrian/bicycle connectivity at the regular commission meeting Thursday. 

The board also elected 2026 officers and heard concerns from an A Street apartment resident about visibility dangers along his street due to legal parking on both sides. Mike Ray, city planning manager, and Scott Bontrager, engineering manager, agreed to look into his concerns.

The commission unanimously elected Sarah Tucker as chair and Tanya Denison as vice chair.

Grant applications are due to the Local Highway Technical Assistance Council by the end of January, City Grants Manager Alisa Anderson told the commission. LHTAC is Idaho’s public agency that recommends how federal funds are allocated for local projects.

Transportation Alternatives Program grants are mainly for non-motorized routes, Anderson said: “We’re trying to close the gaps in pedestrian access throughout the city.” 

* One grant would fund a shared-use path (walking and bicycling) along the east side of Mountain View Road from just north of White Avenue to the Troy Highway 8. To the north, it will connect to the southern end of a Mountain View route, funded by an earlier TAP grant, scheduled for construction this summer. To the south, a Highway 8 traffic signal in future Idaho Department of Transportation plans will ease crossing access to the east-west Latah Trail. 

“This is awesome,” said Commissioner Ben Calabretta. “It’s a natural way for people to connect to Paradise Path.” That route intersects Mountain View just north of White Avenue at Heron’s Hideout Park.

The grant would not exceed $500,000 and the total project would not exceed $750,000.  

* The second grant would fund: a sidewalk along the west side of Park Drive between 6^th and 7^th streets; widening/improvement of the path between 6^th Street and the corner of 5^th and Cleveland; and push-button flashing beacons at the 6^th Street pedestrian crosswalk (near Short’s Funeral Chapel) that connects the two routes. 

The projects is intended to improve citywide pedestrian access as well as safety of children accessing nearby Lena Whitmore Elementary School. A SMART Transit bus stop, east side route, is located at the 6^th and Park crossing.

The grant and the project both would not exceed $500,000.

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Moscow Transportation Commission is Feb. 12.