Long Bridge work made a bad situation worse

This is a letter I recently sent to the Idaho Transportation Department.

(I am fed up with waiting in traffic for up to three hours to get home to Sagle each night. I dread the trip home, and even when I leave work early, I still wait for more than an hour.

I can't believe there are people that truly believe the bypass will not alleviate this mess. At this point, I can't get into City Beach at all and cannot see any of the lake past the train bridge so I'm not too worried that my view will be obstructed. And I will certainly not miss the view of the sludge of Sand Creek from October to April each year.)

To ITD:

I would like to comment on the work that is being done to the bridge crossing Lake Pend Oreille from Sagle to Sandpoint. I do not understand why ITD would plan major work for the month of July which is historically the busiest month for traffic. It takes more than an hour after work each day to get from north Sandpoint to Sagle approximately 10 miles where it used to take 15 minutes.

There is a mixture of traffic from cars with out-of-state license plates to cattle trucks from Canada. People run out of gas adding to the obstruction. I've seen trucks hauling large loads take out every orange cone that had been set to protect the men working on the bridge. I've also seen cars break down or rear-end other cars.

The project was supposed to end by July 31 but the way it looks it will continue through the first week of the Festival at Sandpoint further adding to the traffic load. I am eagerly awaiting the proposed bypass hoping that I don't die in an accident before that day arrives.

ANN DUTSON

Sandpoint