City Government
Seriously Silly Stinky
September 9, 2005 
Ustick Road has the potential of being a skunk with more stripes than a zebra–but it will still stink, thanks to a “compromise” between the Boise City Council and the Ada County Highway District. 
Regarding road improvements Boise thinks , “If you don’t build it they won’t come,”. ACHD wants to build their standard 5 lane design with a center turn lane and two lanes in each direction. The city fears it will encourage commercial development. The only thing to encourage development is the city council itself with zoning changes.
ACHD is obviously trying to avoid the sting they took on the Curtis Road extension over the hill to Garden City which CREATED a traffic jam the day it opened–they had caved to Boise City interests on that one too.
Remember, Ustick Road links Cole Road with Eagle Road–busiest in the state– and serves as a reliever artery for Fairview Ave. The irony here is that for once the ACHD is ahead of the curve and building a decent street BEFORE there are a bunch of traffic jams and the city wants to keep it a quiet little neighborhood lane despite the fact the City has approved thousands of new homes and businesses in West Boise.
They agreed to a compromise: build it for 5 lanes, stripe it for only 3 and leave 2 vacant. Also, instead of the standard 71 foot width, narrow it to 65 feet. When it gets too crowded, they bring out the artists in the paint trucks and spray on some new stripes to increase it to 5 lanes…those are REALLY fun on a dark night after it rains!
All bets may be off if traffic analysis shows the need for 5 lanes now.
Somebody voted for ‘em and there is a November election for half the council if anyone cares.
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Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Sep 9, 2005, 8:32 pm
What I don’t understand is why traffic is so backed up on Eagle Road at Ustick. Did they miss-time the lights? Will that problem ever get fixed or will we have to live with Eagle Road slowing down to a snail’s pace – or worse, a dead stop?
Sep 10, 2005, 9:08 am
My experience is that City Council members are a couple lanes short of a full road most of the time anyway. Suffice it to say this only supports and affirms that observation. To have less on the ball than ACHD is downright tragic.
Sep 14, 2005, 10:04 am
The true “treasure” for Treasure Valley would be some foresight for what the transportation needs will be be in say 2010 or 2020 (the year of “Hindsight”). All those responsible for planning in the valley today and the decades before need to be “kicked to the curb”. Move over, let someone else drive; in my opinion, the vision for planning needs corrective lenses.