Highway intersection project OK'd

PRIEST RIVER — The Idaho Transportation Department is gearing up for a intersection improvement project to ease congestion on U.S. Highway 2 and Highway 57.

“This project will improve the intersection by adding a dedicated right-turn bay for vehicles heading north,” said Scott Fellom, a District 1 ITD spokesman.

Bid openings for the project are set for Feb. 9.

A construction time line wasn’t available, although city officials anticipate it construction of the initial phase of the project will be completed by Memorial Day, when people start flocking to Priest Lake.

“They want to get it done before then. They don’t want to impact the summer traffic flow,” said Greg Snow, the city’s planner and development coordinator.

Snow said turning radii at the intersection will be altered so it’s easier for trucks to navigate.

“Right now, if there’s people in the center turn lanes, they either have to back up or they have to do some real wrangling with their trucks,” Snow said.

Trucks have also been known to take out the crosswalk signal and button.

The state acquired a parcel on the east side of Highway 57 a couple of years ago and razed an office building to accommodate the intersection improvement project.

In other western Bonner County transportation news, a project is being designed to replace the concrete bridge on Highway 41 that spans BNSF Railway tracks in Oldtown.

The replacement structure will eliminate a bottleneck on the bridge.

“Basically, there’s three lanes on the roadway on either side, but the bridge is a narrow choke point,” said Jerry Wilson, an ITD engineer for District 1. “We’re replacing the bridge to match the roadway.”

The bridge replacement is estimated at $4.8 million and is currently slated for the 2019 fiscal year, according to ITD’s transportation investment program project list.