Area Road Work Should Ease Woes But Construction Will Cause Problems

Jay Taft was busier on Friday morning than Santa Claus on Christmas.

He cradled the Java Java espresso stand’s cordless phone between his shoulder and his ear, hands flipping into a blur, dancing back and forth from window to window.

It’s no understatement to say he’s looking forward to the Northwest Boulevard interchange project. Sure, Taft is up to his collar in double tall skim no-foam vanilla cinnamon iced lattes. But the traffic at that intersection is nightmarish.

“This is about as good as it gets,” he said, pointing to a row of cars lined up to turn south onto Northwest from Appleway. “Later today, it gets really clogged.”

The Idaho Transportation Department is coming to the rescue, however, with a $13.4 million project beginning this summer to turn the curlicue on- and off ramps into a more navigable interchange, widen the two lanes that run across Interstate 90 into seven and raise the overpass as much as three feet, so that tall trucks don’t get stuck as they zoom beneath it.

For a while, traffic will be even worse, warned ITD spokeswoman Barbara Babic.

But this project and eight others, totaling more than $50 million, will make Idaho pavement a good deal safer. The work is made possible by a boost in the federal highway system fund.

During one month, which has yet to be determined, Ramsey will be closed at the Appleway intersection, and north and south of it.

That could create nasty jams with traffic redirected to U.S. Highway 95.

“I’ll retire when we please everybody,” Babic joked.

“We’re keeping the public informed, and making sure anybody who does have problems will know who to call.”

Other projects include:

U.S. Highway 95, Bonners Ferry North Hill. This carries a $13.9 million price tag, and is nearly complete. It’s a reconstruction and realignment of a steep, winding section of the highway. A new road is being built, so traffic has only been affected by extra work trucks using the road to get to and from the construction. The new road will be straighter, wider and less steep. Right now it’s being paved.

Interstate 90 from the Washington state line to Coeur d’Alene. The cost on this resurfacing project is $5.7million. It’s to fix the ruts on this notorious stretch of road, using an environmentally friendly technique called “crack and seat.” Existing pavement will be cracked, then filled with new pavement, so as to cut costs and use fewer new resources. The project began last month, in the eastbound lanes. Paving is under way.

By October, the entire section of interstate should be fixed.

The ruts are there, Babic said, because of the 50,000-vehicle-per-day traffic and use of studded snow tires.

High water along state Highway 200 has delayed a $1.1 million project to resurface the road from Clark Fork to the Montana state line. The road won’t be widened or changed. Work will likely begin after the Fourth of July, and be finished by September.

ITD is using a technique developed in the last five years to do the job. It’s called Cement Recycled Asphalt Base Stabilization, or CRABS. The term refers to tearing up the existing pavement and reusing it, with a strengthening agent, like cement.

A $13 million reconstruction and realignment project along five miles of U.S. Highway 2 between Wrenco Loop Road and just west of the city of Dover. Work should start in August, and be finished in late 2001.

A simple resurfacing project on U.S. Highway 2 from Oldtown to Priest River, at a cost of $1.2 million. Motorists should expect delays of up to 15 minutes when this project starts, after July 4. It should be completed in September.

Another resurfacing project, along 5 miles of U.S. Highway 95 from Sagle to Sandpoint. This project will cost $1.5 million. It is estimated to begin in July, though the project has yet to go to bid.

A $1 million replacement for the Mosquito Creek Bridge, an aging, narrow structure east of Clark Fork on Highway 200. This project is on hold so that an archaeologist can examine whether the bridge has too much historical significance to be destroyed.

A guard rail project, on state Highway 97 from Beauty Creek to Wolf Lodge. Construction for the $1.8 million project begins Tuesday. This project should have some of the longest delays, of up to 15 minutes, because one lane of the highway will be shut down until the project is finished in November.

Babic stressed that though the construction and delays may be annoying, drivers should be extremely conscious of speed limits in work zones.