Emerald Street & Americana Boulevard, Orchard Street to Ann Morrison Park Entrance

Construction update as of 6/15/18:  Crews are working on signal replacement at Garden, Roosevelt, and Latah. Traffic was swapped onto the new pavement on the north side on May 1st. Utility relocations on the south side of Emerald started May 7th and are on-going. Crews are working on sidewalk improvements on the north side of Emerald between Roosevelt and Latah. Crews are working on seepage beds, storm drain, and sidewalk improvements on the south side of Emerald between Garden and Roosevelt. 

No later than the morning of Saturday, May 19th, the intersection of Roosevelt and Emerald will be closed for utility work. This will be a weekend closure only.  The intersection will re-open by Monday morning, May 21st. Century Link/Track Utilities will be working on relocating fiber as part of the needed utility relocations for the Emerald and Americana project. This work may require the signal at Roosevelt to be taken out of service. Motorists should plan to use alternative routes.

Construction to Start

Starting mid-February 2018 construction will begin on the Emerald Street & Americana Boulevard project. Utility work began in January and all construction is anticipated to be complete by the end of summer 2018. The project includes:

• Reconfiguring Emerald Street and Americana Boulevard to add continuous bike lanes and complete sidewalk on both sides of Emerald Street. This will be accomplished by reducing Emerald to one vehicle lane in each direction, adding a center turn lane, and reducing the east side (downhill) of Americana to one vehicle lane.
• Installing new traffic signals at the existing signalized intersections (Garden, Roosevelt, and Latah streets).
• Applying a microseal on the entire roadway within the project limits.

Traffic and Construction Impacts
During construction there may be the following impacts: lane restrictions, general construction noise, dust, equipment back up alarms and ground vibration. Typically work will occur between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., however, when necessary crews may work until 10 p.m. to complete overhead work and/or pipe crossings.

Please note that the contractor will coordinate with businesses and property owners to maintain access during construction.

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General Description

Reconfigure Emerald Street and Americana Boulevard to add continuous bike lanes and complete sidewalk on both sides of Emerald Street. A microseal will be applied for the entire roadway within the project limits. New traffic signals will be installed at the existing signalized intersections with Garden Street, Roosevelt Street, and Latah Street. 

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Summer 2017 Update

The project was initially planned to occur from summer through early fall of 2017. However, unfortunately the construction bids came in substantially higher than what was expected and budgeted. For this reason, the ACHD Commission did not approve the construction bid at the May 3, 2017 ACHD Commission meeting and the project was  delayed until next fiscal year (2018). The City of Boise asked for a reconsideration at the May 10, 2017 Commission meeting. However, after extensive discussion, no motion was made by the ACHD Commission to reconsider the delaying of the project. The project is now tentatively planned to be advertised for bid again in the fall of 2017, with a notice to proceed in the spring of 2018. Construction completion is planned for summer of 2018.

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The Emerald and Americana Project was adopted by the ACHD Commission on March 25, 2015. The project will now move into design.

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Emerald & Americana Project to be presented to ACHD Commission

March 25, 2015 | 6 p.m. ACHD Auditorium | 3775 Adams Street, Garden City
The Emerald and Americana Project, Orchard to Ann Morrison Park Entrance will be presented to the ACHD Commissioners on Wednesday, March 25, 2015. The Commission will make a decision on the Concept Report and decide whether the project will move forward into design. If you would like to present comments about the project to the Commission during the public hearing, you are encouraged to attend this meeting. The Commission Meeting will begin at 6:00 p.m. in the ACHD Auditorium (3775 Adams Street, Garden City); however this project is one of several agenda items and may not be the first item discussed.

If you are unable to attend the Commission Meeting but would like to submit written comments for the Commission to consider, please send them to ACHD, 3775 Adams Street, Garden City, ID, 83714, or projects@achdidaho.org.

• Staff Memo
• Concept Report
• Concept Report: Appendix

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January 7, 2016 Community Open House Materials

Materials from the January 7, 2016 open house can be found under "Related Documents" to the right.
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January 27, 2015 Open House Materials

• Welcome
• Description
• Time Line
• Central Bench Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan Maps
• What We Heard
• What We Heard 2
• Project Considerations
• Common Questions
• Safety
• Traffic Volumes
• Level of Service
• Bike Volumes
• Proposal: Emerald, Orchard to Roosevelt
• Proposal: Emerald, Roosevelt to Latah Alternatives
• Proposal: Americana
• What is Next?
• Fact Sheet
• Comment Sheet

Project description

• Explore feasibility of reconfiguring Emerald Street and Americana Boulevard from Orchard Street to the entrance of Ann Morrison Park to accommodate continuous sidewalks and bike lanes on both sides of the street.
• Conduct traffic study to determine if Emerald and Americana can support traffic demand with reduced traffic lanes to accommodate bike lanes.

Project Purpose

• Improve safety for all roadway users (motorists, pedestrians, bicyclists)
• Increase pedestrian and bicyclist connectivity

History

This project was one of the highest priority projects to come from the 2012 Boise Central Bench Neighborhood Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan. The plan called for adding continuous sidewalks and exploring the feasibility of reconfiguring the street to accommodate bike lanes on Emerald and Americana from Orchard Street to the entrance of Ann Morrison Park.

Schedule

• Traffic analysis (Fall 2014)
• Public survey (Fall/late winter 2014)
• Develop project concept (Late winter 2014/early 2015)
• Public open house to gather public feedback on concept (Early 2015)
• Take concept to ACHD Commission for approval/disapproval (Spring 2015) 

Time Frame

Start Date: Tentatively Spring 2018

End Date:  Summer 2018