BOISE, Idaho — Boise bench drivers, walkers and bikers have seen some changes along Kootenai Street recently.
Most notably, several chicanes line the street between Overland and Vista.
“The purpose of a chicane is to narrow a speed way," Said Tom Laws, Planning Director for the Ada County Highway District. "What they do is they encourage the motor vehicle to go the true speed way or in this case 25mph.”
Laws said that after a petition from residents in 2017, the highway district looked for ways they could slow down traffic, create wider bike lanes, and have continuous sidewalks on Kootenai.
In their report, the ACHD said they found the average speed to be 27mph, with some vehicles exceeding the 35 mph speed limit on the residential street.
Driving around the chicanes is supposed to cut down on that speeding.
Idaho News 6 spoke to one resident who did not want to be interviewed but expressed his support for the project. However, he said vehicles still speed through, even pointing out tire tracks where people have hit the chicanes.
Laws told Idaho News 6 that the reflective poles on the chicanes and different color paint are meant to combat that, but in most cases, speeding was involved.
The ACHD said the other important part about the project was Veolia Water replacing their underground pipes at the same time as the ACHD project was going on, meaning residents only had to deal with one time period of construction.
For more information, visit the ACHD project page.
