ACHD's Road Wizard
Sunday, October 20, 2019
No parking signs in Columbia Village near the Simplot sports complex; street name for old Collister Drive and traffic signal timing at State and Collister.
The Road Wizard Replies
Dear Road Wizard: I have lived near Columbia Village and the Simplot soccer complex for a decade now. In that time, I have seen the no parking zone is clearly marked with yellow paint on their curbs. These lines have not been maintained and has led to a significant increase in parking zone violations and significant risk to us bicyclists that utilize the bike lines provided through the city. I have spoken with Boise police officers that have been out ticketing the cars and they have even commented to that increase in fines for the area specific to that soccer field. It would be greatly appreciated if the no parking areas around the soccer field would be marked in yellow again in hopes that the soccer parents will adhere to the laws and help keep pedestrians in our neighborhood safe.
Michelle
Road Wizard:
ACHD prefers to place signs to designate areas where on-street parking is not allowed. Signs offer several benefits over curb paint. Signs are easy to change or modify (such as time of day parking restrictions); they can be seen in the snow; and long-term, signs are much cheaper to maintain than curb paint.
Late 2016 was the last time ACHD looked at parking activity near the Simplot Soccer Complex. The assessment indicated that public roadway intersections were well covered, though they did add additional signs where parking areas weren't clearly defined.
Dear Road Wizard: ACHD did a nice job on the State Street/Collister Drive intersection. I am so glad it is almost complete. Will the "old" part of Collister Drive that provides access to the shopping center have a street name? I saw that when the stop sign and street sign were put up recently, it just has a street sign for Collister Drive and not the old part. Shouldn't it also have a sign/name for emergency purposes? What would it be called...Collister Access, Collister Nub, Old Collister, Collister Cutoff? Also, can anything be done to shorten the excruciating long red-light time for traffic on Collister Drive? It is way longer than it used to be before and during construction. It is like 3 minutes, and traffic backs up 10+ cars deep on Collister.
Don
Road Wizard:
The wait is almost over! All lanes at the State and Collister intersection were opened to traffic last week, and just some minor work remains.
According to ACHD plans, the "old" part of Collister Drive doesn't have an official Ada County Assessor-issued name. That's pretty typical for streets that provide access to privately maintained commercial developments. At this time, there are no street name signs planned for the Collister Shopping Center.
As for the signal timing, it will be adjusted in the next week or so after construction activities are completed. As is typical after major intersection projects, there may be some fine tuning necessary in the coming weeks as traffic patterns return to "normal".
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