Pocatello Gets EPA Complete Streets Assistance

Whether you drive, walk or bike, getting around in Pocatello could soon get a lot easier.

The Gate City has just been selected by the Environmental Protection Agency to participate in the Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities program and will receive a free Complete Streets workshop.

The point of the workshop is to help cities come up with more effective ways to plan out streets and sidewalks.

Part of the idea behind the Complete Streets program is balancing every type of travel as they all collide in various spaces.

“If we want people to be walking more, well, we need to make sure there’s a space for people to walk. And if we want to make sure there’s safe travel, well, we need to make sure the lanes are appropriately spaced so cars can get through efficiently,” said Pocatello environmental educator Hannah Sanger.

Making the city more pedestrian-friendly is actually part of Pocatello’s comprehensive plan, Sanger said.

“We support the Bike to Work program, and we’re working on a new bike plan with Bannock Transportation Organization. So this fits with those goals,” she said.

The EPA will come to Pocatello and host a public daylong workshop with city planners and anyone else who’s interested. They will work on how to make those goals a reality.

Some of the improvements people might be able to see take shape involve making Martin Luther King Boulevard more pedestrian-friendly, and doing more to connect the already walkable Old Town to the rest of the city. EPA spokesman Mark McIntyre said the EPA’s role is to help make it all work.

“In the Building Blocks program, what EPA wants to do is what the city wants to do,” McIntyre said.

Sanger said she is excited to get the city moving in the right direction.

“It’s something we’ve been thinking about for a long time, but the next step is how to create a policy that will work for the community here, and to make sure it will meet all of our unique needs,” she said.

Getting more people biking and walking will also help the city meet its storm water requirements by cutting down on pollution, Sanger said.

There are 56 cities from 26 states that are getting this assistance, and Pocatello is the only city in Idaho that is involved.

The workshop date has not been set yet, Sanger said.