Downtown Boise Implementation Plan

KAI worked with the Ada County Highway District, City of Boise, Capitol City Development Corporation (the downtown redevelopment agency in Boise), and other partners on the Downtown Boise Implementation Plan (DBIP). The purpose of this project was to coordinate and prioritize the large number of projects and plans, scheduled to be implemented by numerous agencies in Downtown Boise. This project included street maintenance overlays, streetscape modifications, conversions of several streets from one-way to two-way traffic operation, upgrades to the bike and pedestrian network, stormwater facility improvements, utility improvements, and land development projects.

Due to the five-year moratorium on non-emergency roadwork (which goes into effect after an overlay is completed), the critically sensitive nature of roadwork in the downtown area, and the potential cost savings that can be realized by coordinating adjacent projects within the right-of-way, the DBIP was initiated to develop a way to coordinate the maintenance overlay work with other efforts as much as possible. The implementation plan identified exactly what other improvements should be done with overlay work, the most effective sequence for the work, and how best to accomplish the overlays and adjacent projects concurrently to maximize investments.

The DBIP study is also taking on two detailed efforts within the downtown. The first is aimed at refining a downtown bicycle plan for improvements to the bicycle facilities, networks, and, routes within the study area. The second focuses on refining analysis to evaluate the conversion of existing one-way streets to two-way traffic flow (including the assessment of mini-roundabout intersection treatments to minimize intersection and on-street parking impacts of two-way conversion).

The DBIP resulted in a guidebook identifying the projects and work to be done in the downtown area, the most effective sequence of that work, and how best to accomplish projects concurrently to maximize investments. The plan also produced a GIS database that consolidated location for all project information, and created a mapping tool that organized the downtown area into block lengths, allowing specific relationships to be easily determined. The database also allows users to query information for a particular street extent in order to see what projects are associated with it, to see all projects programmed in the vicinity, to outline all projects identified within a certain time frame, and to establish if there are projects identified for parallel efforts (such as water or sewer lines).