Highway 95 -- Moscow Bypass

[Joel Hamilton <joelh@uidaho.edu>]

On 2/20/00 Mark Miller wrote:
> I would like to hear more about the following: 
>       Western route 
>       Moscow bypass and where it might go (maybe through the Palouse Mall)

The issue of a Moscow bypass was raised over 20 years ago at the time the
downtown couplet was under consideration.  A decision was made to go with the
couplet.  In the intervening years, until recently, the state has expressed
little to no interest in building a bypass, planning a route for a bypass, or
even preserving a corridor for a bypass.  Some of us on the Planning and Zoning
Commission and the City Council have felt that was an irresponsible attitude on
the part of the IDT, so we've continued over the years to talk about bypass
routes, and tried on our own, without cooperation from IDT, and in the face of
mall development in the corridor,  to preserve a possible route on the west
side.  It has never been a financially feasible option for the city to do much
more -- design routes, secure right of way, or build a bypass -- without IDT
cooperation and funding.

The City of Moscow Comprehensive Plan addresses the issue of a westside
bypass.  The Comprehensive Plan is posted on the web at
http://www.moscow.id.us/comptoc.htm. Chapter 10 is the place where
transportation issues are addressed.  The following is an excerpt from Chapter
10.

> North-South Arterials and Collector Streets

> The north-south arterials, though not generally under the traffic pressures
of east-west
>  arterials, will become more critical as Moscow grows to the north and south.
US Highway 95 is
>  Moscow's most important north-south corridor. It handles heavy traffic,
including trucks with
> large volumes of grain and wood chips. The one way couplet system downtown
works well, but
> even with the couplet, this traffic passes through downtown, where it
encounters local shopping
> traffic, pedestrians, and bicycles.

> Feasible alternatives to US 95 for through traffic are limited. More than a
decade ago the Idaho
> Transportation Department and the city reviewed the general route for a west
side highway
> bypass. Later, the state indicated no interest in this alternative,
preferring instead to focus on
> the downtown couplet. It is city policy to preserve this west side corridor,
if not for a highway
> bypass, then at least for major west side arterial. The state has expressed
some interest
> recently in looking at the bypass alternative once again.

> The most important of these west side links is the connection from Palouse
River
> Drive—branching off to the north just to the west of the UI Arboretum,
skirting the UI golf
> course to the west, crossing the Old Pullman Highway east of the mobile home
park, and
> continuing on through the UI farms to align with Warbonnet Drive. If
completed, this street would
> substantially relieve downtown Moscow east-west traffic problems, especially
easing access to
> commercial, industrial and residential sites in southern Moscow. The west
side connection north
> of the Pullman Highway is probably less imminent, and its likely route is
less certain. Its route
> will probably follow northeast from the present end of Warbonnet Drive,
perhaps connecting
> with existing county roads north of the UI farms, and eventually with US 95.

I have also attached a small image  (39k) of the major street map from the Comp
Plan.  (The city should eventually have these on their web page, but they don't
seem to be posted there yet.)  The bypass corridor is the dashed line.

Unfortunately we do not have a lot of options for a westside bypass. 
Presumably the bypass needs to be built in Idaho (remember all the millions of
dollars that were spent at the top of the Lewiston hill to make US 95 an
all-Idaho highway to avoid truck licensing hassles with Washington).  I can
also imagine the hassles of funding and building a highway in Washington to
serve the transportation needs of Idaho and Moscow.

The Warbonnet route, while the last corridor left, is far from ideal.  It goes
through the middle of commercial development.  The UI is not really happy with
the proposed route through the middle of its farmland south of the Pullman
Highway.  The route over the ridge at the Old Pullman Highway and around the
west side of the UI golf course would be difficult (as would about any other
route you could imagine for this portion of the bypass).

An eastside bypass makes little sense.  There is not that much traffic which
goes through Moscow north - south.  A bypass must allow north - south traffic
to connect to Pullman.  Any eastside bypass would have to send the Pullman
traffic through downtown anyway, (on the Troy Highway?  6th Street?  D
Street?)  defeating the purpose of the bypass.

Joel Hamilton
Member, Moscow Planning and Zoning Commission

MajorStreets.jpg