Foes urge judges to put brakes on Sand Creek bypass

SEATTLE (AP) — The major north-south road through the resort town of Sandpoint, Idaho, can be a nightmare in summer months, with a series of 90-degree turns crammed with logging trucks, RVs and pedestrians.

But a five-decade effort to build an alternate route along the shore of Lake Pend Oreille remained on hold Monday as a group of environmental and community activists asked a panel of appeals court judges to reinstate their challenge of the $98 million project. They worry the proposed Sand Creek Bypass on U.S. 95 will blight the scenic waterfront and destroy the creek that flows through town.

“The proposed highway would transform the picturesque waterfront of Sandpoint into an elevated, three-lane interstate,” Matthew Bishop, an attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center, said following the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals arguments.

The North Idaho Community Action Network sued Idaho and federal highway officials in 2005, claiming they did not conduct proper environmental reviews concerning the 2.1-mile bypass. The foes argue that officials failed to disclose or assess the impacts of dredging in Sand Creek, or to consider alternatives to the proposal, such as a tunnel.

U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge disagreed and threw out the lawsuit in March, prompting the appeal. Construction was to begin this summer, but the 9th Circuit issued an injunction blocking it pending the appeal’s outcome.

Much of Monday’s discussion focused on whether environmental reviews conducted over the past decade were adequate, and whether the government must analyze the project’s effects on the Sandpoint Burlington Northern Railway Station, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is the last remaining structure from the original Sandpoint town site.

The bypass is one of four projects aimed at improving traffic safety between Sagle and Ponderay. The other projects, which don’t have funding yet, address U.S. 95 from Sagle to the Long Bridge, the bridge itself, and the highway between Sandpoint and Ponderay.

Because all four were covered by the same 1999 environmental impact statement, the judges asked several questions about whether they had the authority to give it the green light without also authorizing the other three projects — which, the government acknowledges, still face additional study.

“How could we possibly approve something that’s incomplete?” asked Judge Jay Bybee.

Deborah Ferguson, an assistant U.S. attorney from Boise who represents the federal Department of Transportation, suggested the appeals court could allow the bypass project to go forward, with the government conducting further reviews of the other construction segments as necessary. She urged the judges not to void the environmental impact statement.

“I don’t think we should have to start from scratch there,” she said.

Sandpoint, 90 miles northeast of Spokane, Wash., is nestled on the north shore of 37-mile-long Lake Pend Oreille, which is heavily used in summer months. The town is also busy in winter because of the Schweitzer Mountain Ski area.

The judges did not say when they would rule.

• Daily Bee reporter Keith Kinnaird contributed to this report.