East 3rd Avenue closed for paving in Post Falls through April 16

East 3rd Avenue lost its through traffic in Post Falls as paving crews closed the stretch between Ross Point Road and Pinion Park Road, turning one of the city’s busier connectors into a work zone through April 16.

The closure began April 8 and was set to last nine days. During that window, drivers could not use the road as a through route, but access to businesses to the north was maintained. That made the project more than a routine maintenance job for people trying to reach nearby stores, services and destinations along the corridor. It also forced commuters and delivery traffic to plan around a blocked segment instead of relying on East 3rd as a straight east-west link.

The impact reaches beyond traffic signals and orange cones. Black Bay Park sits on the 1200 block of East 3rd Avenue, with two entrances, paved walking and biking trails, and a connection to the Centennial Trail. Black Bay Depot is at 1211 E 3rd Avenue behind the Senior Center Building. Anyone headed to either site had to account for the closure, even as the city kept business access open on the north side of the project area.

Post Falls said its Street Maintenance Division maintains more than 200 miles of streets, along with signs and signals, and uses routine work such as striping, snow removal and paving to preserve road life. The city also said affected neighborhoods generally receive advance notice through door tags and reader boards when street work is scheduled. On the same road-closure page, other construction was already affecting parts of town, including Ashworth Lane and the railroad tracks from April 6 through April 10 for utility and frontage work, plus Spokane and W. 10th impacts on April 9.

That overlap matters in a city growing as quickly as Post Falls, where road maintenance, business access and commuter flow often collide. Kootenai County’s population was estimated at 188,323 as of April 1, 2024, and Post Falls was cited at 43,391, numbers that help explain why even a short paving project can ripple through daily routines. The Post Falls Highway District’s transportation plan also emphasizes coordination among the city, Kootenai County, the Idaho Transportation Department and the Kootenai Metropolitan Planning Organization, underscoring how closely road work, growth and regional traffic planning are now tied together on East 3rd Avenue.