Intersection near LHS is ‘an area of concern’

Community members have identified a busy intersection near Lewiston High School as a growing concern.

Creating a primary route to reach Lewiston High School has been identified as a growing concern for community members.

But at this time, the city of Lewiston has no plans for upgrades at the intersection of Thain Grade, 10th Street and Warner Avenue, said Lewiston Public Works Director Dustin Johnson.

“We’ve identified it as a hotspot, an area of concern for the users,” Johnson said. “I think we need to push it forward and come up with a solution.”

The city anticipated traffic volume would rise when the high school opened in 2019 and changed the arrangement of stop signs at the intersection, Johnson said.

Motorists traveling on 10th Street don’t stop, but those reaching the intersection from Warner Avenue do stop. Previously the stop signs were on 10th Street and the traffic on Warner didn’t stop.

The present configuration is functioning at an acceptable level, with accidents at Thain, 10th and Warner being less prevalent than other Thain Road intersections and traffic flowing smoothly most of the day, he said.

“But if you have the high school getting out, or a football game getting out or any other surge of traffic, it backs up,” Johnson said. “(And) as development grows farther out in the east Orchards, whether it’s the high school stadium or more commercial development in that area, it’s going to break.”

One of the challenges is that any potential solution the city has identified would create other traffic problems, Johnson said.

The intersection doesn’t lend itself to a roundabout or traffic signal, he said.

And the city doesn’t have a lot of right of way to work with even if it were to acquire the lot where a Wells Fargo branch once stood, Johnson said.

What’s happening at the intersection is part of a larger issue on Thain Road that has no straightforward, cost-effective solution, he said.

The road is “broken” in the sense that it’s functioning as an arterial for employees commuting to work and as a commercial road that drivers use to reach stores, Johnson said.

“You’ve got two conflicting types of traffic,” Johnson said. “Ones that want to turn into the local businesses and ones that don’t. So it’s a network issue.”

His department will continue to seek remedies, he said.

“It’s a growing pain of a community that is experiencing growth in that area of town,” Johnson said.

Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.