Lake City Development Corp. is trying to nail down how much public benefit could come from helping improve the Kootenai Youth Recreation Organization's proposed ice arena. I bring this up on a transportation blog because part of the improvements would include expansion of the parking lot and adding a trail head for the Centennial Trail.
KMPO was asked by the North Idaho Centennial Trail Foundation to look at this issue, and after putting together a map of area Centennial Trail trailheads, found that it could be very advantageous to place one at the ice rink. The nearest trailhead to the east is over a mile away, and to the west three miles away. That means there's not really a good place for people to access and depart the trail for almost four miles. It's kind of like a freeway you can't get on or off of between Coeur d'Alene and Post Falls. And because the average ride is about 1 1/2 miles, we believe more people would use that section of trail if there was easy access to it in between those points.
The ice rink has also talked about adding public skate times. If that were to happen, young people in neighboring areas could use the trail to get to the rink.
Here's an article on the situation from the Coeur d'Alene Press. Read it and let us know, would you use a trailhead if it was placed at the KYRO ice rink?
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