On Paper, There Are Many Projects To Make Highway 95 A Safer Road

Over the next decade, Idaho has 75 improvement projects totaling $367 million planned on U.S. Highway 95 between Canada and the Oregon border. The projects range from better paving to entire new routes.

Here are some of the major projects planned in North Idaho:

Projects starting in 2001

Mica to Worley, $60 million.

A new four-lane divided highway will be built in three two-year phases, starting this spring with the seven-mile Mica-to-Belgrove section. At the end of six years, it will stretch for 21 miles.

The Westmond Bridge, about halfway between Coeur d’Alene and Sandpoint, will be replaced at a cost of $6.3 million. The old, narrow bridge is inadequate for current traffic.

The Honeysuckle Avenue intersection in the city of Hayden will get safety improvements, including new signals.

In Sandpoint, Fifth Avenue will be improved from three lanes to five with better pedestrian access, starting this summer. The $1.8 million project is a partnership between the Idaho Transportation Department and the city of Sandpoint.

Seven miles will be repaved and widened for safety at Granite Hill, near the Bonner-Kootenai county line, costing $2.3 million.

Projects starting in 2002

Safety-oriented repaving and widening are scheduled for 7.5 miles in Benewah County from Tensed north to Moctileme Creek, $1.8 million.

Projects starting in 2003

Sandpoint to Kootenai cutoff, $8.2 million, will build a divided four-lane highway to tie into a new section completed two years ago and a planned new route through Sandpoint.

Just north of Plummer, lanes will be added so slow trucks can be passed as they ascend a steep hill, $1million.

Projects starting in 2004

The Sandpoint alternative route, nearly 50 years in the works, will create a new route for the highway through town, part of it elevated over Sand Creek and part of it a four-lane road from the junction of state Highway 200 north to Ponderay. Cost: $30 million.

Road resurfacing and minor widening are planned from the Bonner County line to Naples, about 5.5 miles, $1.4 million.

Projects not assigned a year

Canadian border south for 16 miles. A new road will be built to modern standards, with truck lanes and in some cases a whole new route. Project includes replacing two large bridges over the Moyie River. Total: $50.4 million.

Reconstruct the highway from Wyoming Avenue to Ohio Match Road, north of Coeur d’Alene. This two-lane section runs for about five miles between two four-lane stretches; the project would close that gap. Cost: $10.8 million. From Cocolalla north for eight miles, the roadway will be repaved and widened, $2 million.

From Mica Creek to Cougar Creek, south of Coeur d’Alene and just north of the big Mica-to-Worley project, some widening and resurfacing are planned. Cost: $3 million.

Curves will be straightened at McArthur Lake in Boundary County, which requires a new route for two miles. Cost: $6.5 million. This project is still in early planning stages; engineering hasn’t started yet.

Studies under way

A major “corridor study” of how to run the highway through growing Coeur d’Alene is in progress.

The Transportation Board recently approved another major “corridor study” of the whole 46-mile stretch from Coeur d’Alene to Sandpoint, which likely will become a four-lane highway. Starting next summer, the study will examine what kind of access, entrances and exits or interchanges would work best along the route, and how it could best serve local and through traffic.