Transportation Board Approves Budget, Considers School Safety

MOSCOW – The city in April and May will collect new data and review earlier studies concerning traffic and pedestrians on streets just outside the Lena Whitmore Elementary school zones, after the city received a letter from two parent and safety groups expressing concern.

“We expect to have results in May,” City Engineer Scott Bontrager told the Moscow Transportation Commission at its regular meeting Thursday. 

The commission also unanimously approved its Fiscal Year 2027 budget request to the City Council of $500. For a long while, the board’s annual budget had been $1,000, said Mike Ray, city planning manager and the commission’s staff liaison. But due to cutbacks, the council reduced that to $500 last year; the commission voted to request that amount for FY2027.

The funds typically are used for outreach efforts and materials, and for commissioner education about local, regional and national trends in transportation planning. The board agreed to discuss use of the funds at a future meeting, perhaps for a retractable banner on a stand to display at public information events.

The early March letter to the City Council and Transportation Commission regarding Lena Whitmore safety expressed particular concern about the intersections of Hayes and 6^th, Hayes and 3^rd, and Blaine and 3^rd streets. 

Once the city has results, Ray will return to the commission with a plan for it to discuss. The commission may then make recommendations as the plan goes before the City Council for consideration and possible action.

Submitted by the Lena Whitmore Parent Advisory Team and the Safe Routes to School Program (https://www.uidaho.edu/education-health-human-sciences/outreach/safe-routes), the letter requested city action in four areas, which commissioners discussed Thursday:

1. Install a pedestrian-activated beacon at the crosswalk on Hayes Street at 6^th Street. The initial city staff response is that the intersection has relatively low pedestrian activity, and rapid flashing beacons (RFBs) are an expensive solution, Ray said. Since a new traffic circle with crosswalks is planned two blocks east at Blaine and 6^th, it may be better to direct pedestrians to cross there.

While it may not warrant a flashing beacon, said Commissioner Ben Calabretta, the intersection is a natural crossing – and dangerously obscured by the hill crest on 6^th and by shade from trees – and some kind of pedestrian aid would be appropriate.

Commission Vice Chair and bicycler Tanya Denison said Hayes has a better vibe than Blaine for walkers and cyclists, so redirecting may not work: “What really will make it safer is fewer cars at Lena Whitmore, and more children walking to school,” she said. 

2. Install a four-way stop at the intersection of 3rd Street & Hayes Street. The city has studied this, Ray said, and determined as recently as 2019 that it wasn’t warranted, in part because there is not a heavy flow of traffic entering the crossing from the east. 

“That intersection confuses many drivers,” said Commissioner Joel Hamilton, “especially when you add pedestrians.”

Making it more confusing, said Commissioner Bob Sanders, is that “the east approach has the illusion of a smaller side street; drivers there feel inferior” and hesitant, even when it is their turn to proceed.

3. Reduce the speed limit from 30 to 25 mph along Hayes from D Street to 6th Street, or make it a school zone. A study in May 2024 showed that at least 85 percent of drivers in this stretch travel between 24 and 27 mph, Ray said, so already are within speeds required in a 25 mph zone. 

“Requests number 2 and 3 are related,” said Calabretta, which should be considered as the city addresses concerns. 

Speeds on 3^rd Street and 6^th Street were reduced to 25 mph in the past few years, so posting the same on Hayes would be more uniform for the area, Hamilton said.

4. Extend the no-parking zone on 3rd and Blaine Streets for improved visibility. 

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Transportation Commission will be April 9.