See what Boise
could become.

Table Rock is Boise’s natural axis, the one place where the city can be seen whole. Today, the summit is shaped by fragmented stewardship, legacy infrastructure, and conditions that fall short of its civic importance. Boise Rising is working to change that. The goal is a more coherent summit and ascent experience rooted in the high desert itself: clearer paths, stronger thresholds, native planting, and a public realm that feels worthy of the landmark and the city it overlooks.

Today, the space in front of Idaho’s Capitol functions primarily as a traffic distributor, prioritizing vehicle throughput over civic presence. This vision restores the Capitol’s front door as a true public square. By calming traffic, consolidating movement at the perimeter, and re-centering the space around trees, water, and pedestrian life, the grounds become a place of arrival rather than passage. The result is a civic room worthy of the institution it serves: legible, humane, and oriented toward gathering.

At 11th and River, downtown’s protected bike route comes close to the Greenbelt, yet the last few hundred feet require navigating traffic or doubling back to another crossing. This concept lowers a short stretch of River Street so people walking and cycling can cross above it, keeping the path near the level of the surrounding landscape. It is one piece of the Boise Civic Path: connecting the routes we already have into a protected network through the city. Engineering, cost, drainage, and utilities would need careful study. The ambition is straightforward: a connected city needs crossings that carry the connection through.

Currently, the Parkcenter bridge is a utilitarian necessity. It’s a loud, asphalt artery designed solely to move vehicles across the Boise River, severing the natural flow of the riparian environment. This vision heals that divide by submerging vehicular traffic into a concealed tunnel beneath a terraced park lid. In a bold move of adaptive reuse, the existing elevated bridge structure is transformed into a landscaped garden crossing exclusively for pedestrians, animals, and cyclists. By burying the noise and elevating the lived experience, a mere roadway becomes a world-class riverfront landmark connecting the Greenbelt.

Broadway carries one of Boise’s strongest corridors of daily life, yet the experience at street level is shaped by wide lanes, fast traffic, and a hard boundary between the roadway and the surrounding districts. This concept lowers a central stretch of Broadway into a contained channel and restores the surface as a walkable civic spine. With narrower lanes, sound-softening walls, generous sidewalks, and pedestrian bridges linking both sides, the corridor becomes a place to spend time rather than pass through. By pairing transportation flow with a humane public realm, Broadway gains the character and coherence its role in the city deserves.

Much of Boise’s recent housing boom has relied on box-like massing, thin exterior treatments, and layouts that maximize density while minimizing the experience of home. This concept contrasts that approach with a pattern that restores dignity to multifamily living. Vertical townhomes create a sense of personal domain. A shared internal courtyard offers light, safety, and community. Layered landscaping softens the edges. A clear perimeter wall defines a threshold between the public street and the place residents inhabit. By assembling these elements, the development becomes a setting where people can live with coherence, privacy, and connection.