Mon., April 10, 2017

Two major U.S. Highway 95 projects in N. Idaho may be funded under transportation bill

A driver waits to turn onto U.S. Highway 95 where the four-lane freeway ends, just south of the Kootenai-Bonner county line on Friday, April l7, 2017. That stretch of road is one of two major construction projects on U.S. 95 in North Idaho that are top candidates to get funded from the big transportation bill that Idaho lawmakers passed, which includes $300 million in new highway bonding. (Kathy Plonka / The Spokesman-Review)

“I think 95’s been a need that’s needed to be addressed for years."

The legislation calls for $300 million in new GARVEE bonding, a type of bonding that lets states borrow against their future federal highway allocations. The bill also includes several other funding pieces.

Though much of the debate during the legislative session focused on the badly deteriorated, congested stretch of Interstate 84 through Canyon County west of Boise – which is expected to gobble up at least half of the $300 million – two North Idaho projects also sit atop the list of candidates for funding.

Both are in the Garwood-to-Sagle corridor, a stretch of U.S. 95 north of Coeur d’Alene that’s long been slated to become essentially a four-lane, divided, limited-access freeway from Coeur d’Alene to Sandpoint. The last round of GARVEE bonding in the state, which ran from 2005 to 2015, improved just under half of the Garwood-to-Sagle stretch, converting 14.8 miles of the 31.5-mile route into a limited-access, four-lane highway. Full story. Betsy Russell/SR

Posted April 10, 2017, 9:30 a.m.