COEUR d'ALENE - They were literally clearing the path Tuesday to expand the Centennial Trail between City Park and McEuen Park.

Starting today, the city, in partnership with the Hagadone Corporation, will break ground on the new $1 million pedestrian-friendly downtown corridor that will connect City Park with McEuen Park.

Specialty Tree Service began clearing away 23 trees that stood in the way of the trail project.

"We have to get this started on the right foot," said Kenny Roberge, CEO of Specialty Tree Service. "We got down here and set up around 7 a.m. and we were cutting by 7:30 a.m."

By noon all but two of the trees had been felled, chipped and hauled away.

Roberge said the job was split between the city of Coeur d'Alene, which had two spruce trees removed near the clock tower, and The Resort, which had 21 red maple trees removed.

The trees stood in the way of a 14-foot wide extension of the Centennial Trail. The project is designed to move pedestrian and bicycle traffic between the popular parks.

The project will permanently close a portion of Front Avenue between Second and Third streets, and make traffic flow modifications on both Second and Third.

When the project is completed in mid-June, Second Street between Front and Sherman will serve as a one-way exit from The Coeur d'Alene Resort, and Third Street will become a two-way street between Front and Sherman.

Front Avenue will become a landscaped pedestrian corridor extending from McEuen Park's Third Street entrance to Second, and then north along Second to Sherman and west along Sherman to the entrance of City Park.

Traffic in downtown Coeur d'Alene will be detoured around Sherman Avenue at Third Street next week while street upgrades are made as part of the McEuen Park/Front Avenue reconstruction project.

Crews will begin sidewalk, street and traffic signal work Monday to transform Third Street downtown from one-way southbound to a two-way arterial from Front Avenue to Lakeside Avenue. During construction, east-west traffic will be rerouted to Lakeside Avenue at Second and Fifth streets.

Although traffic will not be allowed to cross Third at Sherman, on-street parking will be available for a half-block on the 200 and 300 blocks of Sherman near the work site.

Pedestrian traffic in the construction zone will also be restricted at the intersection. Access to all businesses will remain open throughout construction. The street closure is expected to last five days.