Bridge work blocks path

DOVER — The last 500 feet of the Sandpoint-to-Dover bike and pedestrian path will be closed during construction of the new Dover Bridge, a two-year project.

The closure goes into effect on Monday and there is no detour, according to the Idaho Transportation Department. The bridge replacement project includes a new bike path, although it’s not expected to be installed until the new bridge is erected.

The closure will be located on the east side of town, where U.S. Highway 2 peels slightly south toward the Pend Oreille River and away from the highway’s historic alignment next to the railroad line.

The construction zone will effectively block the North Idaho Bikeways path’s conduit with a public trail developed at the Dover Bay housing development. The west end of the Dover Bay trail, meanwhile, remains the subject of a right of way dispute.

Union Pacific said the end of the trail was built on its property without knowledge or permission and is demanding that Dover Bay developer Ralph Sletager remove it. The disputed section of trail allows people to pass from Dover Bay to the Bikeways trail without having to cross U.S. 2.

Sletten Construction Co. of Great Falls, Mont., was awarded the contract for the $22 million span replacement project.

The long-awaited bridge project had been indefinitely sidelined for a number of  years because of a mounting highway work backlog in Idaho. The two-lane bridge was built in 1937 and has gained a degree of national attention for its deteriorating state.

The existing bridge will be replaced with a 72-foot-wide span located slightly east and north of the old bridge. The new bridge will have two eastbound lanes, two westbound lanes and no overhead obstructions.

The replacement project regained traction last spring, when Idaho received $148 million in federal stimulus funding for eight shovel-ready highway improvement projects.