So now we are to have five years of intense traffic congestion, pollution and damming of Sand Creek; environmental damage with noise and dust leading to permanent destruction of local businesses and the end of our "small town" look.

Why did we - and you— not see the wisdom of a "westside alternative?" One that would truly bypass Sandpoint - running northward from Highway 2 and parallel to the railroad tracks that run along Railroad Avenue north of Baldy Road … and leaving Sand Creek as a natural asset to downtown Sandpoint.

Yes, there would be damage wherever the bypass goes; but we, and you, had a choice and I feel the Idaho Transportation Department pushed the taxpayers into the wrong one.

MICHAEL FRANKLIN

Sandpoint