Safest Thing State Can Do? Spend More

It’s puzzling why Idaho’s highway department didn’t make a big deal of its recent decision to widen a particularly dangerous stretch of U.S. Highway 95 south of Coeur d’Alene. This is delightful news for anyone who drives that road.

State officials decided long ago they needed to straighten and improve the narrow, winding stretch of Highway 95 from Mica to Worley. But recently, and without fanfare, they also decided to widen the highway from two to four lanes over most of the 19-mile stretch. The decision was based on projections of traffic volume.

It means the state is going to spend between $50 million and $60 million over six years on the project. Construction will be a temporary inconvenience, but fixing the substandard highway will save lives.

The first phase of construction will start as soon as next spring. The agency has budgeted $18 million for the seven-mile stretch from Mica, at the northern end of the project, to the Fighting Creek bridge. That section will be done in two years.

After that, northbound and southbound lanes will be divided from about five miles south of Mica to Worley, where the highway will narrow to two lanes with a center turn lane.

“It’s the No. 1 priority as far as the state’s concerned,” said John McHugh of Post Falls, a Transportation Board member. “Four lanes is so much safer, in my mind, it would not be right to build a two-lane road.”

McHugh’s comments are right on target. Discussions regarding details of the highway project should focus on this long-range question: What’s the safest thing to do?

And there are some troublesome details. On the southern end of the project, the highway will not be expanded but instead will be rerouted away from environmentally sensitive areas. In the process, farmland will be covered with pavement or rendered less valuable when it is dissected by the highway.

Another major issue is whether Highway 95 should be routed around Worley. Traffic going into Worley now slows to 25 mph. Several people have spoken up for a safer, faster, four-lane route to the west.

Worley’s mayor fears the town will cease to exist without the highway to bring customers through. For now, the Transportation Department plans two traffic lanes through the town, but will add a turn lane.

Is that the best long-term solution for the thousands of folks who drive Highway 95 every day? The community and the Transportation Board need to think safety first.

We applaud the state for embracing opportunity to save lives. It’s reasonable to expect that, over time, a much-needed concern for safety will be applied to the entire, 538-mile length of Highway 95.