Coeur d’Alene bids farewell to 1922/1950 pavement on Seltice Way

A new future awaits Seltice Way, the venerable concrete-and-stone roadway that served as the main road between Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls until Interstate 90 opened in the 1960s.

Seltice remains the primary non-freeway street between the two cities. But its role has changed over the decades from industrial to a mix of business, retail and a car dealership. It’s now seen as a site for residential growth.

The surface, however, has remained the same since the westbound pavement was poured in 1922 and the eastbound pavement in 1950, said Tom Flanagan, a Spokane-based historian of U.S. 10, Seltice Way’s designation before I- 90 opened.

The city of Coeur D’Alene on April 17 started clawing away the 67-year-old eastbound Seltice Way in the one-year, $5.44 million reconstruction project. The new asphalt roadway will include bike lanes, walking trails and two roundabouts on the 1.5-mile stretch between Riverstone Drive and Huetter Road.

“This is probably one of the largest and most expensive city street projects we have done all at once,” said Sam Taylor, Coeur d’Alene’s deputy city administrator.

LaRiviere Equipment & Excavation of Athol is the general contractor.

“It’s not just a reconstruction project. It’s a revitalization project,” Taylor said. “In the next 10-15 years, there will be thousands more people living in that corridor. There is a proposal for 1,000 people living on one property.”

The roundabouts at Grand Mill Lane and Atlas Road came about last fall. The city initially planned only the Atlas Road roundabout.

“We apprehensively presented it at a community meeting with more than 100 people and were surprised when they said ‘Why not do that at Grand Mill, too?” Taylor said. “These are the first two-lane roundabouts in north Idaho.”

Taylor said the roundabouts will be $20,000 cheaper at each location than signalized lights. The city didn’t have to buy any new right-of-way for the roundabouts because Seltice Way has a wide right-of-way as the former separated highway that was called U.S. 10 until I-90 opened.

Some of the Seltice Way ideas emerged from a three-day Community Mobility Institute in 2014 in Boise hosted by Idaho Smart Growth and coordinated by the Sonoran Institute to assist communities in improving their transportation systems.