Summer, roads and construction season

We are now in the season of warmth and sunshine we anticipate all winter long, but we tend to forget that summer also brings road construction season with it. The residents bearing the brunt of roadwork frustration are those folks whose daily travel typically traverses Bottle Bay Road. Hopefully, a year from now when we use that intersection, this summer’s project will seem worthwhile. We are postponing the scheduled chip sealing work for last year’s asphalt for a year until next summer, but do have some guard rail replacement planned for later September out near Hayes Gulch.

Bonner County combines employees from all three districts to form a chip seal crew that is now getting started on some of the western roads. We will soon be starting a major effort in the Ponder Point area to treat those roads and will be asking for parking cooperation from residents, as well as help with controlling irrigation overspray onto the road surface. August will find the chip seal crews out in the Sagle area, including a stretch of Dufort Road.

Other projects that will impact travel times this summer will be the Bayview Road asphalt work beginning in later August and the Sagle Road right of way clearing and ditch work that will begin in late July. We have the Big Creek Bridge project up on the Eastriver Road that will slow drivers down, but with no significant delays. Crews will be back up on West Spring Creek finishing our widening project and getting cap rock on the road surface before our autumnal moisture arrives.

Mostly, folks, we ask for your consideration and patience around our project sites when you encounter them.

STEVE KLATT

Sandpoint

Bonner County Road & Bridge

Director