Traffic shift expected to ease construction impacts

SANDPOINT — Motorists on U.S. Highway 95 should get their first taste of the Sand Creek Byway alignment this week.

Traffic on the Long Bridge is scheduled to be diverted onto the newly constructed causeway at the northwest end of the bridge on Wednesday. Paving started last week on the causeway, clearing the way for guardrail installation, temporary striping and use by the motoring public.

“Something we’ve been working towards all summer is to get a traffic swap and a detour in place,” said Tim Davis, an engineer for bypass contractor Parsons RCI.

The causeway sits on a retaining wall and will accommodate two-way traffic during construction. Diversion onto the new bypass alignment is expected to limit construction impacts on the traffic flow, Davis said.

“Once we get that done, for the next couple of years, we’re not going to be moving that traffic anymore,” he said. “We also won’t be stopping traffic other than for truck interfaces and a little bit of utility work.”

Flaggers will remain in the vicinity to facilitate construction traffic movement.

The existing U.S. 95 alignment in that area is slated to be ripped up in about a week. Excavation and installation of a drainage layer for a mainline wall with a triangular profile is scheduled to begin in about two weeks.

Paving of the realigned bike and pedestrian path on the east side of the Long Bridge is expected to begin next spring. The second stage of fill installation for the eventual northbound lane leading downtown is pending.

Construction continues of the piers in the vicinity of the former Lakeside Inn, which means truck traffic and flaggers on Bridge Street. Wall construction between the Bridge and Cedar street bridges is also ongoing.

Mass excavation and pile driving continues along the bypass alignment south of the U.S. 95/Highway 200 junction.

Davis said workers discovered a “bottomless pit of clay” which temporarily ensnared a piece of heavy equipment south of the Y interchange.

n Byway construction updates can be found on the Web (http://itd.idaho.gov/projects/d1). Weekly construction updates are held on Thursdays at 11 a.m. in the Transportation Information Office, located at 202 North Second Ave.