Corps Allows Highway Work To Resume

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers agreed this week to let highway officials continue construction on U.S. Highway 95, a project that was stopped last year because of environmental problems.

The Idaho Transportation Department destroyed nearly 5 acres of wetlands while rebuilding the highway north of Sandpoint.

The corps stopped the project in October and ordered the transportation department to submit a plan to repair wetlands and stop erosion of dirt into Sand Creek.

Highway officials have since agreed to fix the problems, monitor the area for five years and have erosion control measures in place before Oct. 15.

“It is in the best interest of the traveling public to see the project completed,” a corps spokesman said.

The transportation department still faces a federal lawsuit over the damage. The suit was filed in July by the Clark Fork-Pend Oreille Coalition and five Bonner County residents.

The group wants the highway department fined $10,000 a day for violations of the Clean Water Act and requested the wetlands and Sand Creek be restored to pre-construction conditions.

, DataTimes