Yesterday, I took a drive over to Sandpoint, Idaho just to get a change of scenery. This was the second time this year for a trip thataway, and it was a bit different this time. Last time, we were deep in the throes of COVID-19 fear, and almost nobody was in sight. This time, more shops were open, and there were a few people out and about.
Art?
Sandpoint is an odd little town. Idaho in general leans classically liberal, in the sense of favoring liberty, with an odd hodgepodge of right-wing authoritarian bullshit from Boise. Sandpoint blends that with an idiosyncratic mix of hippie independence and left-wing "progressive" authoritarianism.
There's some free market entrepreneurialism, and some tax-feeding parasitism. Near the art (?) Above was the installation from the Solar Roadways project that was circulating around the web like crazy a few years back. Remember this?
After wasting a lot of money, including federal funding, this sad patch of patio seems to be the only result. It doesn't look very impressive in person. It's not even a very good disco dance floor.
Perhaps this is a cool idea that had a head-on collision with the cold, hard facts of physics and economics. It looks like the company is still trying to make a go of it, though. Maybe a few more design iterations and tests will sort things out, but I am skeptical. As many other critics have noted before, a glass roadway that transmits light to embedded solar panels while resisting the accumulation of grime, the weight of traffic, and the stresses of daily and yearly thermal cycles may just be a money pit forever. Rooftop solar makes more sense in urban areas, and tarmac is one of the most recycled materials on the planet. I think it's a solution in search of a nonexistant problem in the end.
When I lived in that town many years ago, Highway 95 snaked through a maze of one-way streets through town, and it was a terrible mess. It is somewhat improved now. There is a bypass that avoids the city center entirely. I don't know whether the reduction in traffic harmed the local economy, but I'm sure it increased pedestrian safety. It used to be hazardous to walk around despite all the signs reminding drivers that "Sandpoint is a walking community."
Now, walking around downtown Sandpoint is a breeze. There is an odd triangular park in the midle of these dozen or so blocks thanks to a bizarre diagonal street making traffic needlessly confusing. The tortoise and the hare seem to monitor pedestrians.
There is a nice paved bike trail through town. I almost think it was once a railroad grade. What clues suggest that?
Here we go. Foster's Crossing is a highlight of visiting Sandpoint. It's now a collection of small shops, including a roailroad car book store. Too bad they were closed on Mondays. It certainly looks like a repurposed depot.
There is also this grain elevator.
No, wait, that's just a little decorative structure a few feet tall. I meant that grain elevator down thataway.
The local railroads are long gone, unfortunately. We once had passenger rail across the US. Then the federal government subsidized the auto industry by dumping money into a massive highway network. When passenger rail declined in the following decades, we got the government-monopolized Amtrak as a second-rate replacement.
Almost done with this rambling post. I'll close with some shots taken from a dock at the south end of 3rd street that seems to be a tiny public park lodged between private lakefront homes.
Water is low. These docks are permanent, not pulled in.
Looming inclement weather to the west
Apologies for any lingering typos. The drunk autocorrect elf in my smartphone is not making this easy.
