Is commuting between Coeur d'Alene and Sandpoint feasible? (Hayden, Kootenai: school districts, living)

[WNYBound]

We are considering moving to the Coeur d'Alene / Spokane area, but would be commuting to Sandpoint, ID for our children's school. How is the year-round drive between Sandpoint and Coeur d'Alene? Would this be a safe/reasonable drive? Thank you so much!

[Sage of Sagle]

Highway 95 is kept open 24/7. It's about 50 minutes from the long bridge to Hayden/North CDA area in good weather. In snow conditions it's about an hour, and in a bad storm up to 90 minutes. Basically the bad storm situation would be if visibility was so bad that you're doing 30-35mph the whole way. That only happens 2-3x per winter, for the most part.

IF you're talking about making the round trip twice a day...well, yikes. That's an awful lot of driving.

[Count David]

Question Sage:

Didn't Mark Fuhrman used to commute from Sandpoint to Spokane?

Looking back at my work history, I did that drive five times in the summer of 2009. It was always a relief to be back in CDA, even with all the beauty of the drive. I couldn't imagine doing it every day, much less twice and back.

[Mountain Rose]

It's doable with a reliable car and good tires, but I wouldn't want to. During horrible storms you pretty much have to stay on 95. In good weather you could take back routes, which might be faster (especially in the summer), but that's still a lot of time in the car. And portions of that drive can get a little hairy when there's ice on the road.

Have you considered living halfway between Sandpoint and CDA? That would cut the commute time considerably and there are some very beautiful areas in there.

[KTMROCKS]

Wow, I don't think I would do it. I commuted between Naples and Spokane for work for about a week. What a drag that was. The worst part of the trip was Hwy. 95 between Coeur d'alene and Sandpoint. Unfortunately, you get stuck behind a slow moving rig and there you are. And it seems like the slow-pokes all speed up when there is a passing lane, so it's still hard to get around them. Not to mention that people die on that stretch of highway pretty often.

We have some great schools in Kootenai County. I would look into that instead of risking the winter conditions on 95. IMHO, of course.

[Sage of Sagle]

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

Question Sage:

Didn't Mark Fuhrman used to commute from Sandpoint to Spokane?

I'm not sure about that. Maybe he broadcasted his radio program from there? If you paid me enough I'd do it...but I wouldn't like the drive...

[fearnofish]

Originally Posted by WNYBound

We are considering moving to the Coeur d'Alene / Spokane area, but would be commuting to Sandpoint, ID for our children's school. How is the year-round drive between Sandpoint and Coeur d'Alene? Would this be a safe/reasonable drive? Thank you so much!

Wow what is so special about the school in Sandpoint that they kid has to go there? I know the school districts are not that much to put up with that drive daily.
It is not just the drive you have to think of. A commute that far every morning and afternoon is going to take a toll on your child. If your child has to go to school in Sandpoint then live closer to Sandpoint and you do the commute to work.

The drive can be done and there probaly are people who do it for work everyday. The road crews do a pretty good job keeping the road clear. It sure seems the risk versus gain on driving that road everyday is way too high on the risk side.

[Sage of Sagle]

Something to think about...

We live just 13 miles outside Sandpoint, and because of congestion in town it's 25 minutes from our front door to the high school...and 35+ minutes in bad weather. And that's 13 miles from town. If you're driving there for Sandpoint Christian School or the Waldorf School, you're talking about getting THROUGH town's congestion which adds more time. Just FYI.