Interesting Stuff
Why Not Capitol Blvd Garage?
October 30, 2006 
This sign on Myrtle Street at the New Hampton Inn at the planned community of BoDo makes as much sense as the hotel entrance.
We are going to need on-duty AND off-duty cops along with professional flaggers in orange vests to take care of the traffic mess for strangers trying to get to the hotel on the two busiest one-way streets in town.
BoDo was able to take away most of the public sidewalk on Myrtle for a “loading zone” and you can just plan on having a series of traffic accidents as out of towners try to pull into traffic at the same time drivers are trying to make left turns off Myrtle onto Capitol.
Anyone noticed the semi trucks parked on Capitol in the left turn lane at Front as they off load merchandise into Office Depot–apparently not enough room to get to the loading dock of the second largest retail space in downtown. Seems like it should have been planned better since it is brand new! (Macy’s is largest)
Looks like another example of “Smart Growth.”
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Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Oct 30, 2006, 2:29 pm
Sounds like a lot of “conjecture” and not a lot of “observation”.
Oct 30, 2006, 2:48 pm
Maybe the hotel could offer a convenient concierge parking option that got people out of the way quickly and solved some of the confusion….oh, wait…someone got their nose bent out of shape when services like that were using public parking garages and made sure it was killed off.
Oct 30, 2006, 7:35 pm
Oh, I don’t know. I think the sign and the entrance make just about as much sense as “New Hampton Inn” being in Boise. And about as much sense as calling anything ” BoDo” unless it’s somebody you’re mad at.
Oh, well, if the tourists can’t figure out how to get in here, they can always just give up and go to Zoo Boise — and if they drive in in reverse, they’ll be at the Boise Zoo. Or they could zip over to the Taco Bell Arena for a Mexican-food snack.
Geeze, Guardian — where’d you get the idea anything in Boise was supposed to make sense?
Oct 31, 2006, 12:58 am
Just for the record – the Myrtle Street garage does have an entrance on Myrtle, but it’s a construction zone at the moment…
Oct 31, 2006, 8:29 am
Like all the rest of our downtown garages, eventually you figure out which exit is easiest and avoid the ones that dump you into the heaviest traffic. But as Dave points out, it is the out-of-towners who are unfamilar with our traffic patterns and one-way streets who will be at the highest risk for accidents.
I remember (unintentionally) cruising Boise for the first time in the 70s as a college student from the Idaho boondocks–my friends and I were stuck going round and round for about 2 hours on a Friday afternoon because we couldn’t figure out how to merge out of the turn lanes. Not that we were stupid, but people weren’t letting us get into the correct lanes that would lead us out of town and we kept getting shoved into “Left Turn Only” lanes.
With streets that can’t be crossed during rush hour, blocked lanes and intersections, unsynchronized signal lights, and one way streets, I can’t help but wonder if the real goal is to keep tourists from leaving downtown Boise by confusing the heck out of them!
Oct 31, 2006, 10:54 am
Planning by professionals scares me to death. I think modern day planning causes more deaths than it prevents. If someone tells you that they are a planner…RUN!
Maybe they are trying to confuse enough people so they either move away or do not move here.
Is that non-sidewalk on Myrtle a construction zone before it becomes a “loading zone” or before it becomes an entrance to the parking garage?
Gotta love the semi trucks parked on Capitol in the left turn lane at Front as they off load merchandise. Businesses can get away with what us peons can’t.
Who named all this “Smart Growth”? Doesn’t seem too smart to me. But what the heck do I know?
Oct 31, 2006, 11:16 am
I just simply do not go downtown – best solution I have found.
Nov 1, 2006, 3:39 pm
Bo-Do’s just the latest example of what i’m going to refer to as oxymoronic thinking by our local politicians. They use terms, such as ” smart growth, commuity development, and ” growth for our future'” then give us more self-enriching bureaucracies( ACHD & CCDC) that are supposed to do the work we elected the Mayor and council for.
Now, here’s some common sense- just look at any map of all treasure valley community’s- The Bus map will do fine. A grid pattern for city streets has for centuries been the most economical and safest way for the community to expand and yet Caldwell is the only City that’s maintained this factor as it expands. Look at the new developtment areas of western,southern, and S.E. Boise. The street pattern resemble a bewildering maze with no exits. Meridian to the North and S.E. ,Nampa to the west,S.E. and N.E., and Caldwell to the west and S.E. all follow Boise’s lead in ” the developers street mayhem.”
Yes folks, it’s a nightmare for all local emergency services, a lure for as many vehicular accidents as possible,and a homeowners guaranteed migrane but just think how happy all those money-making, self-satisfied ” developers and their political cronies are!
Nov 2, 2006, 12:29 am
While we are discussing street names consider how many streets in NW Boise, Meridian, and Eagle, have starts and stops, so that Castlebar can end up at Collister but start up again a few blocks west. No connection, no future connection planned. Out in Eagle there are service company guys, furniture delivery people, flower shop employees wandering around looking for Watson Way north of Floating Feather, only to find out there is another Watson Way south of Floating Feather. Are we running out of names? On the opposite side, one can get on Watson driving south and a tiny bend in the same street has you on Kite or Player. How the fire department finds anyone is beyond me. What is the reason for this madness?