The first phase of the Education Corridor is now complete.
Phase 1A of construction, which included three new roundabouts, raised sidewalks, street lamps, landscaping, and an intersection on Northwest Boulevard that opens Hubbard Avenue to NIC, is now open for use.
“Laying the groundwork for a vision is kind of what’s happening here,” said NIC Communications and Marketing Coordinator Stacy Hudson.
Several speakers attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony, including Mayor Sandi Bloem and Board of Trustees chair Mic Armon. It was held in the same location as the groundbreaking ceremony that took place this past June. According to Bloem, the contrast was sharp.
“Not too long ago we broke ground here, and it barely looked like space. Actually, it looked like a hole in the ground,” said Bloem. “It was space, but now it’s a place”—a place that was able to win a little recognition from the state.
After being nominated by city staffers to Idaho Smart Growth for their annual Grow Smart Awards, the project beat out state-wide competition in the redevelopment category.
According to Idaho Smart Growth, the Education Corridor was selected as a winner because it “encourages community and stakeholder collaboration, fosters distinctive communities with a strong sense of place and builds upon the special place that began with Native American gatherings.
The plan preserves open space, parks, environmentally critical areas and public access to the Spokane River.”
The ribbon was symbolically cut by a group that included NIC President Pricilla Bell, Bloem, LCDC chair Denny Davis, and members of the Coeur d’Alene Commodores—one of whom warmly recalled after the ceremony that he was born the same year the college opened its doors.
Amidst the celebration were hints of some of the controversy that the funding of the corridor had caused in the community. The cost of the first completed portion of the project was $3.6 million.
“There were some people that were opposed to this project and they said it would be a cold day in Coeur d’Alene before this happened,” joked vice president of communications John Martin to the crowd. “And it makes me just as happy to be standing here on a cold day in Coeur d’Alene.”
Despite the challenges coming from some members of the community, Armon said that people coming together is what has made the first portion of the ongoing project a success.
“It’s a collaborative effort of a lot of people that have made this accomplishment come together,” said Armon. “You look back and a lot of things we see and take for granted, and we often times think, ‘Well, how did that happen?’”
Well, it’s always a group of people that just decided that they were not going to listen to the naysayers, that they were not going to listen to ‘this can never be done,’ ‘this shouldn’t be done, it’s too expensive’ or whatever, and they just did it.
“That’s what this project was. This was a project that was just a decision to go ahead and get it done for the future.”
