Category: North

Work is ongoing in the City of St. Maries to upgrade city water, sewer, and drainage lines. The Idaho Transportation Department has partnered with the city, contributing approximately $1 million dollars to its project so that much-needed paving over the work area could improve stretches of State Highways 3 and 5.  

According to St. Maries Public Works Director Jeff Keen, construction on this project has been challenging due to a variety of unique factors such as system layout, depth, and antiquated materials from the days of old.  

“This project isn’t just beneficial to the city, but to the state as well, allowing us to fix sink holes and deficiencies in the roadways caused over the years by failing infrastructure buried underneath such as clay pipes,” Keen said.  

To make the project more manageable, engineers have designed it in two phases with the first addressing a section of SH-3, or W. College Ave, between 1^st and 2^nd Street. Work through this initial phase is nearing completion, with final paving anticipated to begin within the next two weeks depending on weather. Detour routes will remain in place until paving is completed and project directors are working closely with ITD to keep the Idaho 511 system updated. 

The second phase of this project will address SH-5 (Main Street) from 11^th Street to 15^th Street and is set to begin construction in spring of 2024. Drivers can expect similar road closures and detours in this future phase.  

As partners in safety, ITD encourages motorists to be aware of ongoing traffic impacts and plan their commutes accordingly. Use caution while traveling through work zones, be patient, and drive for conditions to help crews complete this project quickly and safely ahead of winter. 

Specific project details are available through the city of St. Maries and as always, up-to-date traffic impact information is available online through Idaho 511 or by downloading the Idaho 511 app to your device. 

Since mid-September, drivers in North Idaho may have noticed a change to late-night driving on U.S. Highway 95 through Coeur d’Alene. Previously, signals through the corridor used to flash yellow or red during late night hours to allow drivers already on the highway more mobility while traffic volumes were low. That pattern is no more, having been replaced by a detection and activation system designed to improve safety and prioritize northbound and southbound traffic flow.

“There are a variety of factors that influenced this change,” said Damon Allen, the district engineer for the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD). “The primary driving factor behind this change is safety.”

In recent years local law enforcement agencies have reported an uptick in late night near-miss crashes at signalized intersections with more drivers entering US-95 from side streets failing to yield.

“If you look at the data, moving away from any sort of nighttime flash pattern is trending nationwide, and the reason is safety,” Allen said.

According to ITD Engineer Manager Lee Bernardi who oversees the traffic section, problems arose from drivers on side streets not realizing that northbound and southbound traffic on US-95 had a flashing yellow light, rather than a flashing red. Signals are not designed for other-directional traffic to be able to see the lit color, so it’s understandable for a driver attempting to cross US-95 with a flashing red to assume opposing traffic also has a flashing red, and would treat it as a four-way stop rather than yielding to oncoming vehicles.

Bernardi continued, “As drivers, we’re conditioned to treat flashing red lights one way, and flashing yellow lights entirely differently. Maintaining complex intersections that combine these two conflicting behaviors, coupled with the amount of growth this area has seen in recent years, it’s logical to transition to a solution that eliminates assumptions on the part of motorists.”

In addition, updating to a nighttime activation system will keep the corridor uniform with the functionality of other signals throughout the area managed by local highway districts and cities.

“It makes sense for drivers to have the same expectations on all primary roadways in the area regardless of jurisdiction or time of day, and eliminating the nighttime flash on US-95 through Coeur d’Alene does exactly that,” said Allen.

The good news for drivers is that, despite this recent change, there should be a relatively low impact to their late-night mobility. Thanks to recent radar and detection equipment upgrades at every intersection along US-95 between Interstate 90 and Lancaster Road, each signal can operate independently of timing cycles and relies simply on a ‘see it and serve it’ strategy.

Each night, when the signals change over to the activation schedule, northbound and southbound lights are designed to rest on green, prioritizing the primary flow of traffic. Typically, the only time the flow of US-95 should be interrupted is when the signals detect either turning or cross-street traffic waiting at an intersection. The lights will quickly transition to serve those waiting vehicles and then get right back to green, rather than having to wait through a timing cycle for each lane. Likewise, cross street traffic should notice a decrease in wait times to get through an intersection.

“Our primary goal is to keep traffic moving,” said Allen. “We want drivers to remember that we are also in the business of efficiency, while maintaining a balance between mobility and safety for everyone on the road.”

The Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) will host an open house next week in Post Falls to present two design alternatives for the Post Falls area as part of the I-90 corridor study. Preliminary design alternatives include options to increase capacity and mobility in the Post Falls area, while modernizing the interstate’s infrastructure that was originally built in the 1960s and 1970s.

Open House Details

Date: Thursday, October 5

Time: 4 p.m. – 7 p.m.

Location: The Jacklin Arts & Cultural Center

405 N William St, Post Falls, ID 83854

“ITD received valuable feedback from the public and area stakeholders at our first open house last year. Our team has integrated that feedback into two modified alternative designs that use different approaches to improve congestion, mobility, and safety,” ITD Project Manager Erika Bowen said. “Our goal is to connect with the citizens of Post Falls to discuss these revised options and gather feedback on which alternative or features of the alternatives best improves travel for residents and businesses alike.”

The open house will feature two design alternatives adapted from the designs previously shared for public feedback in November 2022. Feedback collected in this round of public engagement will be used for an ongoing update to the master transportation plan for the city of Post Falls. Until additional funding is identified to complete the remaining analysis from Washington state line to State Highway 41, the corridor study through the Post Falls area will be on hold.

For those not able to attend the open house, an online option will share the same information and be available on October 5 at itdprojects.org/i90corridor. Comments submitted online before October 19 will be considered by the project team.

The I-90 corridor study is funded as part of Governor Little’s Leading Idaho initiative. The program allows ITD to accelerate project timelines to address rapid growth and build critical infrastructure today that would otherwise take many years to fund and build. Preliminary estimates value the improvements needed for I-90 between Washington state line and Coeur d’Alene at nearly $1 billion, which includes design, right of way and construction costs.

To stay up to date on the I-90 corridor project, visit itdprojects.org/i90corridor and sign up for email updates.

Beginning Monday, crews plan to begin a two-week daytime paving operation on U.S. Highway 95 between Labrosse Rd and Eisenhower St in Bonners Ferry.

The most significant impacts are anticipated to be between Sept 18-28 when the continuous paving work will temporarily affect business and side road access while the asphalt mat is laid and cured in front of driveways. This process typically takes one to two hours and alternate access routes will need to be used during these times.

Throughout construction traffic will remain one lane in each direction with flaggers assisting to allow truck access.

This operation will be very dynamic and subject to change to accommodate unforeseen circumstances, but we are doing our best to stay on schedule and minimize traffic impacts. Significant closures, delays or changes will be broadcast via roadside electronic messaging boards staged throughout the work zone. Please pay attention to local signage or refer to Idaho 511 for real-time updates. You may also subscribe to updates on the project website page.

As always, we urge drivers to slow down through work zones and use caution for the safety of all. Drivers should also watch for large trucks entering or exiting the construction site.

We appreciate your patience through this project and look forward to delivering a newly improved roadway to the community with an anticipated construction completion date set for mid-October!

BONNERS FERRY – Starting on Wednesday September 13, ITD crews will begin a 1 to 2-day repair project on the approaches to the Naples Bridge located along U.S. Highway 95 near milepost 497 in Boundary County.

Work is scheduled to begin at 6:30 am and end at 4:00 pm each day. During this time traffic will be reduced to one lane in either direction, utilizing flagging crews to alternate opposing directions of traffic safely through the work zone. Travelers should expect delays, especially during peak commute times, and plan accordingly.

Once completed drivers can expect to observe a noticeable improvement in smoothness as they travel across the bridge, improving safety and protecting the integrity of the roadway surface through the coming winter months.