EAGLE, ID — Linder Road is traveled much more now than it was several years ago. Idaho News 6 spoke with a few residents who experience the pains firsthand.
- Residents expressed frustrations about waiting for traffic to turn onto Linder from Hatchery Road.
- Currently, there is a short middle lane to turn left into, making it hard and dangerous for drivers to turn South onto Linder
- ACHD plans on widening Linder from Chinden to State to five lanes.
- This project is still a few years out as it is at 50% planned.
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
Residents feeling trapped by traffic. I'm your Eagle neighborhood reporter Alexander Huddleston and I spoke with a few locals near Eagle Island State Park about the troubles of trying to turn at this intersection onto Linder.
Douglas Foots exclaimed, "Please help us out! We feel like we are trapped out here. During rush hour, morning, and afternoon."
Douglas Foote lives near Eagle Island off Hatchery Road, a small back road branching off of Linder Road.
"The only way off of Eagle Island for all the homes out here is off onto Linder. and Hatchery is the main way in and out," explained Foote.
This normally was not a problem. However, in recent years Linder has seen a lot more traffic making it harder to access for emergency vehicles and more dangerous for those turning in and out of Hatchery.
Alan Lynch, another neighbor explained, "A number of years ago my wife got banged in the back corner. It was almost a miracle she didn’t get hurt badly."
Foote said, "I remember one evening when traffic was backed up. An ambulance could not get in. There was no way to get through the traffic."
The two residents explained that quite often they will find themselves waiting at the intersection to turn left. A lot like this driver who I clocked waited for almost 4 minutes.
Lynch explained, "Coming in, they have enough cars stacked up from 44 all the way up to Chinden, and some pictures that we gave you will show that. That is just the five o’clock traffic. It happens on both ends of the day, morning and evening. Then it steadfast tracks for the rest of the day."
Speaking with the two residents they explained that they want to see changes, whether that be a traffic light or extensions in the middle turn lane. I reached out to ACHD and they said they are currently planning on widening Linder to five lanes, from State to Chinden, but the plan is still at 50 percent.
Despite these neighbors' concerns, ACHD says there's just not enough room to extend that middle turn lane.. and a project to widen this section of Linder Road is at least a few years out. I'm your Eagle neighborhood reporter Alexander Huddleston Idaho News 6
