COEUR d’ALENE — Jeremy Evans estimates there are more than 1.1 million trips made to and from Kootenai Health and the nearby medical office complex every year.

“And that’s just a fraction of all the traffic traveling in that area,” the vice president of operations told the Coeur d’Alene City Council.

Evans was at last week’s regular meeting of the council to present the findings of a year-long collaborative effort exploring the congestion in what Kootenai Health has dubbed “the medical corridor.” The corridor, according to Evans, spans the length of Ironwood Drive from U.S. 95 to Northwest Boulevard and includes everything from fitness and daycare centers to pharmacies and dental offices.

“If you travel that area you know, the congestion and vehicles stacking in intersections make entering and exiting the campus not only difficult, but dangerous at times of the day,” Evans said.

The group hired J-U-B Engineers to look at all of the possible solutions to the congestion and create a preliminary plan. Brad Marshall, of J-U-B, was at the meeting and presented the details of the plan, which is broken into two phases.

The recommended plan includes improvements for U.S. 95 and Ironwood Drive, installation of additional signals on Ironwood, and calls for opening up Emma Road.

“Our goal really is to reduce traffic on Ironwood between the two primary buildings and create a campus atmosphere,” Marshall said.

Early estimates on the cost of the first phase of the traffic improvement plan range between $3 and $3.5 million, according to Kootenai Health spokesperson Kim Anderson. Anderson said the phase, which they hope to begin this year, addresses improvements to the intersections of Ironwood Drive at U.S. 95 and Ironwood Place, a direct entrance and exit to the Interlake Medical building, and general improvements to Kootenai Health Way.

“As concepts are taken through the design and engineering process and the project is more formally scoped and bid, that estimate will be refined,” Anderson added.

During his presentation, Marshall told the council that each of the items in the phase can be done as funds become available.

“So we can do some of the smaller, low-budget items at a fairly minimal cost pretty easily,” Marshall said. “The whole project is a fairly big endeavor, but obviously it needs to be done.”

Evans added that, because of the collaborative nature of the project, Kootenai Health will be asking both the city and state to help fund portions of the construction.

“There are also other potential funding opportunities to explore, which we will do,” Evans said. “It’s been a great partnership so far with the city, and the state, and moving forward we would ask the city council for their continued support and partnership in these projects.”