Strong Towns Moscow is a small organization focused on bringing attention to how people are more important than cars. Their main goal as an organization is to get the Idaho Department of Transportation to pass the highway bypass for Moscow.
Since they are a small organization, Strong Towns could not hold a meeting for themselves but rather attended an Idaho Department of Transportation event about the problems with I-95 and US-8. Corbyn Scott, a student at the University of Idaho, participated in the meeting to represent Strong Towns.
ITD held an event to have input from the community on what needs to be repaired or fixed to make it safer for everyone who lives here. Strong Towns was wandering the event passing out their flyers to bring attention to their goals.
Scott shared that they have been working together with the city planners to work on making Moscow safer for pedestrians and better for the environment. To make Moscow safer, Strong Towns wants to make a bypass so downtown Moscow is safer.
“There are pedestrian accidents all along US-8 and I-95.” The bypass would help reduce those accident rates. At the meeting Scott and his other Strong Towns members were passing out flyers encouraging support for the bypass,” Scott said.
ITD is open to the idea of a bypass, but for them to accept the task of building the bypass members must share their ideas and support
The bypass will reduce traffic construction and with less traffic, there will be less carbon dioxide emissions. Some people fear that the bypass will detour traffic away from local businesses.
“The bypass would make downtown Moscow more pedestrian friendly and bring more business to local businesses,” Scott said.
Strong Towns wants to keep people safe and focus on walking and biking. Strong Towns Moscow encourages the community to fill out the survey that ITD is setting out on how to improve the roads and concerns.
Strong Towns encouraged students to fill out the survey before April 24 to share what they want better in the community and to encourage them to fight for the bypass.
Grace Boehland can be reached at [email protected]
Janet
Please feel free to participate in the online public meeting. https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/eccc54ff28c84cfe8626dfa7b8dd6fc5 Comments are always welcome, but can best be used by the end of the formal comment period on Tuesday, April 23rd.
Neil M
The most logical way to bypass would do to take Palouse Ridge Road and run out around the university with an exit off of the freeway and connect on the other side of where the Home Depot is going that end of town building a pass over the town like in Wallace is way more expensive in my opinion
Jolene
Need to conduct studies regarding financial losses against environmental impact. CO2 in the atmosphere whether going through or around
Marvin
Take off at A&W, end just north of Moscow Bldg Supply. Build overhead,exits on each end of town. Unless you have business to do just not have any slowdown at moscow. Do not go around town by buying up farmland and building there just to have town get bigger and eventually be in same position again needing to move. Go overhead, cheaper than building repeatedly in coming years and no wasted ground used. Do like they did in Wallace Idaho with interstate 90. The best for everybody.
Jon Lyksett
It’s US-95 and ID8.