HAYDEN — Some believe connecting Ramsey Road in Hayden near the Coeur d'Alene Airport is long overdue because traffic relief off U.S. 95 has been needed.

Others, including Larry Bitow, have concerns about the planned future north-south arterial.

"I'm concerned about the traffic and noise," said Bitow, who recently had a home built in Leisure Park at Ramsey and Honeysuckle. "Now I'm thinking about selling — already — and I just moved in."

Bitow joined about 100 people who attended Thursday's open house at Hayden City Hall on the Ramsey Road connection project from Wyoming Avenue to Lancaster Road.

Construction on the 4-mile corridor has not been scheduled but is anticipated about five years from now.

Sean Hoisington, Hayden's public works director, said feedback from the public and other agencies is critical to planning the project so the design phase can start.

He called the project an "important local and regional connection."

"It will be a key connection for Coeur d'Alene, Hayden, the airport and county," Hoisington said. "When this connection is made, you'll be able go from Interstate 90 to Spirit Lake (via Ramsey). It's a route people already use and it will eliminate the need to jump over to U.S. 95 or Huetter to make the connection. It will also provide for better access to the airport and industrial areas."

The conceptual design includes connecting Ramsey with Buckles near the eastern boundary of the airport and heading east to Reed. From Reed, the future Ramsey would be constructed due north through Lancaster, where a future roundabout or signalized intersection will be built, and continue to Bentz. It would then head back west and connect with the existing Ramsey Road.

The jog to connect Ramsey is necessary to maintain an airport runway safety zone.

"That west edge (of the future connection) also happens to be the east end of the runway protection zone for the airport," Hoisington said.

While the connection will traverse an existing portion of Buckles and not be a straight north-south road, the entire connection will be considered Ramsey Road, Hoisington said.

The city has worked closely with property owners in the corridor to plan for the project, Hoisington said.

The city will need to acquire about 2 acres from the county north of Buckles for the project.

Ramsey in the corridor is planned to be three lanes with single lanes in each direction and a third lane for future turnouts. Bike and pedestrian lanes are also planned in both directions.

"We're nearing the end of the concept development phase for the project," Hoisington said.

David Evans and Associates, Inc., Hayden's design consultant for the project, had design concepts on display at the open house.

The project is funded mostly through Federal Surface Transportation funds administered by the Kootenai Metropolitan Planning Organization (KMPO), a regional transportation board consisting of highway districts, the county, cities and the Coeur d'Alene Tribe. The city is providing a 7.34 percent local match.

A total of $700,000 in federal and local funding has been dedicated to the project to date for planning and right of way acquisition.

The estimated cost for construction is $6 million.

The project has been discussed by local planners for about 13 years. Hayden in 2007 identified the connection as a key project in its transportation master plan and, shortly thereafter, was awarded federal funding for design and right of way acquisition.

The project was put on hold in recent years due to conflicts between plans for the future transportation corridor and airport runway safety zones.

"We're now back on track and plan to use funds to complete the design," Hoisington said.

Hoisington said there's a misconception that there has been a bad relationship between the city and county, which owns the airport, during planning for the Ramsey connection.

"The county has been awesome to work with to get issues resolved," he said. "Our relationship with the commissioners' office has only strengthened during these discussions."

Hoisington said from Hayden's point of view, hurdles with the airport have been resolved with the reduction of a runway protection zone on the east side of the airport.

While the county and Hayden have been working to settle differences — a memorandum of understanding at the request of the Federal Aviation Administration was recently signed by the agencies to work collaboratively — the county commissioners have not taken a position on the Ramsey connection proposal. Therefore, there will be future discussions on the project between county commissioners and airport staff.

John Adams, vice chairman of the airport's advisory board, attended the open house and said the airport board had concerns about the project two years ago when it was planned to go through the airport safety zone. However, after the FAA agreed the future zone was not practical and was scaled back, the board's concerns were alleviated.

"There were communication problems earlier that have gotten resolved," Adams said. "We need to protect the public and the airport's boundaries, but concessions were made by the city and the airport and we met in the middle."

Hoisington said some concerns have been expressed that the Ramsey connection will be a magnet for traffic congestion, but traffic models for the road for 2040 show 30 percent of the traffic is there already, 58 percent will occur naturally due to future growth and the remaining 12 percent will occur due to the connection itself.

"Natural growth will attract traffic more than the connection itself," Hoisington said, adding the connection is needed to serve that future growth.