ITD dims Lakeshore signal hopes

SAGLE — Drivers likely won’t ever see the light at U.S. Highway 95 and Lakeshore Drive.

Motorists who rely on the busy intersection have been clamoring for the installation of a traffic signal for decades, but Idaho Transportation Department officials contend such a feature would make the situation worse.

“Everybody thinks a signal is going to be a fix-all and it will stop all the crashes. Well, it increases crashes if you dump a signal out there. It automatically will become a high-accident location,” ITD’s District 1 traffic engineer, Bill Roberson, told the members of the Bonner County Area Transportation Team on Wednesday.

Moreover, a traffic signal would back traffic up on the Long Bridge and turn it into a parking lot, according to ITD.

Roberson said there haven’t been enough crashes at the intersection to trigger a project.

“There was a handful over the last five years — nothing that really pings for us to create a safety project out there,” Roberson said.

However, ITD plans to lengthen the turn bay Lakeshore Drive motorists use to access U.S. 95 northbound next summer.

Motorists on Highway 41, meanwhile, won’t be seeing the light this winter on the bridge spanning the BSNF Railway line in Oldtown.

When the project goes into a winter shutdown mode, the temporary traffic signal will be removed.

“It will be fully operational for winter,” Roberson said of the bridge.

Improvements to U.S. 95’s intersection with Elmira are almost complete. Roberson said the state is finalizing an indemnification agreement with Northern Lights to bring power to the intersection.

“It’s going through our legal department and we should have it here in the next couple of weeks,” Roberson said.

The Strong Creek Bridge on Highway 200 in East Hope could also be moved up a fiscal year.

“We’re looking at possibly advancing that so it can possibly be constructed next season rather than in FY ’20,” said Roberson.

The 35-mph zone on Highway 95 in Naples, where a landslide occurred will remain in place this winter, although officials said they are evaluating whether the speed limit can be bumped to 45 mph.

Roberson said the state encountered a holdup in the acquisition of right of way. Bidding opens early next month, although a contract likely won’t be soon enough to commence work on the project.

“We’ll take some heat for it,” Roberson allowed.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.