Gov’t Way Bridge to reopen

After more than a year of construction that kept traffic off the Government Way Bridge, motorists once again should be able to cross Interstate 90 within a week. Officials said Friday the new bridge could be done as soon as Wednesday.

Contractor Morgan Osgood Construction is 49 days behind schedule and has racked up about $75,000 in penalties because of the delay, said Marvin Fenn, Idaho Department of Transportation resident engineer in Coeur d’Alene.

Business owners near the bridge are eager to see the busy arterial reopen.

“We were greatly relieved to see the asphalt machine yesterday and the steamroller today out there,” said John Hiller, owner of Browsers Uncommon Books north of the bridge. “We were jumping for joy.”

Businesses on both sides of the bridge are having a street fair – more of a block party – Aug. 26 to celebrate the reopening. Some owners said they lost business because of the construction, mainly because motorists who saw road closure signs wouldn’t venture down Government Way far enough to reach their shops.

Hiller has been at the same location for 17 years. He estimated that from the time the bridge closed on July 9, 2005, to Dec. 31 he lost about $4,000 in sales. “I expect to lose a little less than that this year,” he said.

Mike and Teresa Cipicchio compared sales figures of their Great Harvest Bread Company store before they bought it in October and believe their sales are down 15 percent since the bridge has closed.

The construction contractor was supposed to be finished with the project by May 31, said Fenn with the transportation department. He said for every day the crew continues work it is fined $1,500, although the contractor could try to claim necessary extra work in order to write off the penalties.

Morgan Osgood Construction received a $2.6 million contract to rebuild the bridge, which was built in 1958, Fenn said. The new bridge will be four lanes wide and have six-foot-wide bike paths and six-foot-wide sidewalks on each side, he said.

The bridge height was increased by 2 1/2 feet to 17 feet, which means height warnings no longer have to be posted to oncoming traffic on I-90.

Although the official reopening is a week away, it could happen sooner because the crew should need only a few more days to finish, Fenn said.

“I’m really pretty optimistic that it’s going to be open earlier,” he said, though street lights may not be in yet. “We didn’t want to give a date and have 500 cars lined up at barricades.”

Some businesses are hoping the customers start lining up again. Klassic Kuts hair salon’s Jeanette Delia is one of several who have come up with creative ways to promote themselves. Delia, who intends on being the first person to drive over the new bridge, began to combat problems after she moved her business from the Silver Valley to Coeur d’Alene in August 2005.

“What we wanted to do was, we needed to get some attraction,” she said.

When the state put up signs on Appleway Avenue saying the road was closed, Delia got on the phone and asked the signs be changed to say just the bridge was closed. She was also able to persuade them to put up a sign that listed businesses on Government Way still open.

During next weekend’s party at the strip mall where Delia’s shop is, business owners and friends will sell hot dogs for 25 cents. They are also planning to have games and prizes for children and raffles for adults.

Mayor Sandi Bloem will attend the party at 11 a.m. – not for speeches, Delia said, but to mingle and have a good time with businesses that have put in hard work to try and ensure they remain afloat.

“The people in this complex have really come together as a little community,” Delia said.