No. The Streetcar Won’t Relieve Traffic on I-84.
Twice lately people have either asked me what the downtown circulator will do to relieve congestion on I-84 coming from Nampa, or say they don’t support the streetcar because it won’t relieve congestion on I-84 and that is what the TIGER grant ought to be used for. Proof:
My smart friend Claire has tweeted me multiple times about the streetcar. She seems to oppose it because it is a poor priority compared with the Valley’s desperate need to reduce congestion on I-84. I totally agree with that. Three things though: 1) I-84 is not the responsibility of the City of Boise. It is a federal/state maintained route under the auspices of ITD, and usually paid for already by federal highway funds; 2) TIGER grants are theoretically possible for highway funding, but hardly probable; 3) Improvements to I-84 between Nampa and Boise are probably not only beyond perceived cost caps on TIGER funds, there most likely aren’t any shovel ready projects on the books.
I don’t know what is on tap as far as future I-84 projects. I do know however that BSU and ULI hosted a conference on the subject of opening the rail line between the Depot and Nampa - which is probably the favored solution for reducing congestion on I-84 (except by Randall O’Toole and Dave Frazier) - and that Senator Mike Crapo has been working diligently on the issue.
So again - the people that should be working on I-84 ARE working on I-84. That isn’t the City of Boise’s issue.
As to this question that I got at Urban Lunch, all I can say is, “No, I can’t tell you how the circulator will bring people in from Nampa because it is a circulator. A downtown circulator. For downtown. Boise.”
Transportation | admin December 14, 2009
