Tubbs Hill trail work begins

COEUR d'ALENE - Three retaining walls were installed in east Tubbs Hill Park this week by a Sandpoint-based contractor during the initial stages of making the hill accessible to residents and visitors using wheelchairs.

Coeur d'Alene Trails Coordinator Monte McCully told The Press that when the trail work is completed, most wheelchairs will be able to get 1,500 feet up the trail to a viewpoint of Lake Coeur d'Alene.

He added that the new and improved trail will make seeing Tubbs Hill easier for others in the community as well.

"It's one of these things that we want to benefit the entire community - because a portion of us can use it, but there are a lot that cannot," McCully said. "We're making it accessible to another percentage of our population that may not otherwise be able to see nature and see something beautiful."

Crews were primarily focused this week on installing the retaining walls, McCully said, because working on other portions of the project would disrupt the hill during the winter months when they can't work.

"So they are doing stuff they can finish up before the weather hits," McCully said. "Come spring, they will finish up the rest of the work."

In the spring, construction crews will install one more large retaining wall and work to give the trailhead a 5 percent slope, which McCully said is ideal for a person in a wheelchair.

"It's pretty steep as soon as you come out of east Tubbs Hill Park so they're going to be filling and extending the trail out to make it less steep," McCully said.

Additional work to level the slope on both sides of the trail will also be required, McCully added.

The work is the result of more than two years of planning, with meetings being held on the trail work for a year before it was given a green light by the city council.

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Tubbs Hill trail work begins