Coalition Backs Highway 95 Bypass For Cda Opposes Widening Pavement Between Wyoming And Ohio Match

The idea of building a U.S. Highway 95 bypass around Coeur d’Alene is alive and getting an injection of enthusiasm from the Idaho Highway Coalition.

The informal group of politicians and business leaders is pressing the state Transportation Board to set aside its preliminary plans for widening the existing highway north of town. In a letter commenting on the Idaho Transportation Department’s proposed five-year construction plan, members recommended against widening the pavement between Wyoming Avenue and Ohio Match Road.

“Instead, they suggest using that money to do initial planning and corridor acquisition for an alternative route that would run west of the airport and south through Huetter to an intersection with I-90,” said coalition spokesman Rep. Jack Riggs, R-Coeur d’Alene.

Riggs will argue for the bypass when the Transportation Board meets Aug. 20 in Coeur d’Alene. His comments will follow a 9 a.m. presentation on alternate routes given by Idaho Transportation Department planners.

It doesn’t make sense to work on the Wyoming-to-Ohio Match stretch of highway if a bypass is going to be built, Riggs said Friday.

“That’s where the split (with the existing highway) would occur,” he said. “It would need to be redesigned.”

If there is no bypass, the coalition still supports widening U.S. 95 in the Hayden area to four lanes. In fact, its members would like to see a four-lane highway - though not a freeway - from the Canadian border all the way to Lewiston.

The coalition’s other recommendations to the Transportation Board include:

Build a bypass around Moscow. While that’s been debated in the past, there are no plans for it, said Jim Carpenter, district engineer in Moscow. However, the sharp turns in the highway as it winds through Moscow will be eliminated in a $3 million construction project set to begin this fall.

Begin planning a 53-mile Indian Valley highway that would run from Boise to New Meadows in south-central Idaho. It would save time and be safer than existing routes, Riggs said. That would get commercial traffic off the scenic but dangerous State Highway 55, which connects U.S. 95 to Boise.

Put greater emphasis on upgrading and widening U.S. 95 between Interstate 90 and Eastport at the Canadian border.

In 1998, Riggs came up with a list of 28 highway projects that he proposed be paid for with an increase in car registration fees. Although that failed, enough federal money has become available to pay for about three-fourths of those projects, he said.

Riggs complimented the proposed state construction plan for the U.S. 95 bypass planned around Sandpoint. The coalition also likes planned improvements in the highway from Bonners Ferry to Canada, from Mica to Worley, from Lewiston to Moscow, and from the Goff Bridge to Riggins.