Coeur Terre Phase 2: Traffic Impact Analysis Review

Subject: CivTech Traffic Impact Analysis (TIA), 2nd submittal, April 2026. Review issued September 2026. Coeur Terre Phase 2 is a subdivision of up to 506 homes and a public elementary school site on Huetter Road in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. The review examines traffic volumes, the Huetter and Mullan intersection, sight distance, turn-lane storage, and the impacts on Appaloosa Road, West Nez Perce Road, and North Atlas Road. It was not prepared or sealed by a licensed professional engineer; page numbers are PDF pages of the TIA.

• Developer: Kootenai County Land Company, LLC (owners: LREV 33 to 39 LLC)
• Scale: 202 gross acres; 510 homes in the TIA (City: up to 506); 1 school site
• Daily trips: 4,896 a day, projected by the applicant’s TIA
• Status: The Planning and Zoning Commission approved the plat 4-0 on July 14, 2026. The City Council held a new hearing on August 31, 2026 and approved it with 32 conditions, 5-1 (from the hearing recording; the signed order controls). Still open: the final plat, construction-plan review, and the Post Falls Highway District approach permit for Access A.

Six issues in the traffic study

A page-by-page check of the CivTech submittal found six errors that should be corrected before the study’s conclusions are relied on. The review makes no claim about why they occurred.

• 33 vs 442

  Data-entry error in the existing AM count

  At Huetter and Mullan, the AM southbound through volume was entered as 33; the count is 442 (TIA p. 49 vs p. 63). It affects the existing year only. Corrected, the Mullan approach goes from about 9 s (LOS A) to about 14 s (LOS B).

• LOS C → about LOS E

  Median storage assumed in 2035

  The 2035 model gives Huetter and Mullan one vehicle of median storage (TIA p. 161). No median exists today, and no document says who builds it. Without it, the review estimates about 46 s on the approach and about 61 s (LOS F) for the left turn.

• Table 3

  Trip equations printed incorrectly

  Table 3 prints the single-family equation without “ln” on the left side (TIA p. 21). Appendix D has the equations right, and the totals match them.

• About 36 trips

  Internal school trips do not balance

  The AM peak counts 25 school-bound internal trips against 7 home-to-school trips, and 21 against 3 the other way (TIA p. 81). Balancing them restores about 36 of the 560 AM trips to outside roads.

• 800 ft vs 195 ft

  350-ft storage cap with no cited source

  Table 8 caps recommended turn-lane storage at 350 ft and gives no source (TIA p. 36). At Huetter and Seltice, CivTech’s own AASHTO method gives 800 ft; it recommends its 195-ft HCM queue because the project adds no traffic there.

• About 110 ft short

  25-mph speed in the sight-distance check

  Access A was checked with a stop-control worksheet at 25 mph, the stated roundabout entry speed (TIA p. 187). At the posted 45 mph that worksheet needs about 500 ft, against the 390 ft the TIA estimated from satellite imagery.

Huetter Road: one access is proposed

The TIA shows one access to Huetter Road: Access A, a roundabout at Halide Avenue, 1,690 feet north of Seltice Way (Figure 4, p. 20). Access A to Mullan Avenue is about 2,000 feet by map measurement; the TIA does not state it.

Huetter and Mullan in 2035

The developer must build a northbound left-turn lane at Huetter and Mullan (TIA Table 10; Council condition 32). The TIA’s 2035 model also assumes median storage there for drivers turning left out of Mullan Avenue. Neither Table 10 nor the condition mentions the median storage. The question for the highway district: will the turn lane, as designed and permitted, include it?

The TIA did not analyze a roundabout at Mullan. In its 2035 PM forecast, 61% of traffic at Huetter and Mullan is northbound. A single-lane roundabout entry would run at a volume-to-capacity ratio of about 0.74 under the current model (HCM 7th edition) and about 0.91 under the older 2010 model, against the 0.85 planning limit the TIA itself uses. A licensed engineer should size it.

• 0.74

  Current model (HCM 7th edition), review's estimate

• 0.91

  Older 2010 model, review's estimate

• 0.85

  Planning limit used in the TIA

Turn-lane storage

Neighborhood and east-side impacts

• Half of site trips go east

  The TIA sends 50% of site trips east: 37% on Nez Perce Road and 13% on Appaloosa Road (Figure 5, p. 23). Development Agreement § 4.3 requires traffic calming on both connections.

• Atlas Road timing gap

  The TIA analyzes Atlas Road as three lanes in 2030. The City schedules the widening for 2031, with design starting in 2029. The two-lane condition in 2030 is not analyzed.

• Right-turn lanes on Atlas

  The TIA says the ITD right-turn lane criteria are met at Nez Perce and Appaloosa “but not recommended with this phase” because the intersections operate at LOS D or better (p. 30). Its appendix has no plotted worksheet to check.

Risk ledger (6 of 12 risks)

Recommended conditions

These are requests to the City and the Post Falls Highway District for the steps still open. They are not requirements.

1. Step 1 Correct the traffic study Fix the existing AM entry at Huetter and Mullan, state who builds the 2035 median storage, cite or remove the 350-ft cap, and reprint Table 3.
2. Step 2 Highway district approach permit A PFHD approach permit for Access A before construction (PFHD Ordinance 2019-01; Development Agreement § 4.2.4).
3. Step 3 Huetter and Mullan Confirm the median storage on the left-turn lane plans, or study positive control sized by a licensed engineer. Deny any later frontage access that does not meet the 330-ft spacing standard.
4. Step 4 Atlas Road Analyze the two-lane condition for 2030 and provide plotted right-turn warrant worksheets for Nez Perce and Appaloosa.
5. Step 5 Calming and walking routes Traffic calming on Appaloosa and Nez Perce under Development Agreement § 4.3, and the off-site walking gaps on the school routes closed as best practice.
6. Step 6 Corridor simulation A microsimulation of the roughly 3,700-ft segment from Seltice Way to Mullan Avenue that includes the school’s morning peak.

Based on the Coeur Terre Phase 2 community technical review (September 2026). The full report and the infographic are the exhibits below.