Street work set in Payette

By Jeff Ward
Argus Observer
Tuesday, November 25, 2008 12:20 PM PST

Payette — Residents along Seventh Avenue North in Payette are getting a new street.

Construction on the road project will begin Dec. 2 and will be completed by April 2. Payette City Clerk Mary Cordova said the new street will have a lot of improvements.

“Essentially it will be a brand new street,” Cordova said. “The road will be widened, curbs and gutters are being added, along with sidewalks and bike lanes. The bridge over the canal will be replaced with a new, wider bridge and the drainage will be improved for the residents along that section of the street.”

Seventh Avenue North is the road that leads to McCain Middle School and the WICAP Headstart. That segiment of the street will be completely closed to traffic during the construction period. The construction will go from the intersection of Seventh Avenue North and U.S. Highway 95 to the intersection at Iowa Avenue. The estimated cost of the project is $2 million. Parents who use the road to take children to the middle school or the Headstart will need to find an alternate route. The traffic lights will still be in use for the intersection along U.S. 95 for northbound and southbound traffic and eastbound traffic along Seventh Avenue North. There are also tentative plans to add a second traffic light at Center Avenue.

“We are looking into temporarily putting in a traffic light at Center and Highway 95,” Cordova said. “Right now it’s not a for sure thing, but we have been talking to the Idaho Transportation Department about adding the lights there. Many residents in Payette have expressed a need for traffic lights at that intersection to help with the flow of traffic. Getting onto Highway 95 or even crossing that street for drivers has been getting more difficult with the increase of traffic along that particular stretch of road. But again, it’s not for sure that those traffic lights will go up.”

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If the new traffic lights are installed, they will be placed at the corners much like a regular stop sign. ITD has expressed  it doesn’t want to stall the flow of traffic along U.S. 95 with traffic lights, but it does recognize that many residents in Payette have expressed a desire to have those lights installed. Once this section of the Seventh Avenue North Project is completed the city will then flip its attention to the same road, but it will be that section of the road that travels west into town.

That project will get started once the first phase is completed.