HAYDEN - The Hayden City Council ordered that a letter be sent to the city of Hayden Lake, blasting a decision by leaders of the smaller community to make part of Strahorn Road a southbound one-way.

"They don't live in a bubble," Hayden City Councilwoman Nancy Lowery said Wednesday. She called for a strongly worded letter.

The Hayden council said there have been negative consequences on traffic and public safety.

The Hayden Lake City Council designated the half-mile section of Strahorn - between Miles Avenue and Hayden Avenue - a one-way in September.

"I don't think you'd find an objective traffic engineer who would say that's a good idea," said Hayden City Councilman Roger Saterfiel.

The council said northbound traffic on Strahorn is being channeled through Hayden residential streets like Hillview Drive to the west, where kids walk to and from school. Some northbound Strahorn traffic has been channeled to Lakeview Drive to the east of Strahorn.

At the time of the change, Hayden Lake Mayor Nancy Morris said it would be temporary and test drivers' response. Hayden officials don't know what temporary means in this case.

The city of Hayden Lake fielded complaints about how bumpy and narrow the street is, Morris said at the time. The city doesn't have the money to improve or widen the road, which could require killing root systems or cutting down some trees along the edge of the Hayden Lake Country Club - a likely non-starter with the club.

Morris couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

One point likely to be made in the letter is the Hayden Lake council acted alone. From a planning and traffic engineering perspective, the change doesn't work or make sense. By attempting to correct one or two problems, several others were created, Hayden officials said.

Necessary research is lacking, and the change was made for emotional reasons. For instance, traffic counts should have been completed on Strahorn - before the change.

Hayden officials are not convinced Strahorn is too narrow to support two-way traffic, which they said was another motivation for the change.

Finally, Hayden officials plan to say it's not too late to go back and re-evaluate, using professional planning and engineering principles.