Driver faces felony DUI charge after hitting light
LOREN BENOIT/Press A motorist heads through the U.S. 95 and Kathleen intersection as Idaho Transportation Department employees work to repair the lights at the intersection after an impaired driver struck one of the light poles.
Clos
Motorists come to a stop at the intersection of U.S. 95 and Kathleen Avenue Monday. According to Coeur d'Alene Police, an impaired driver struck one of the traffic light poles at the intersection, causing significant damage to the light. The driver was arrested. At this time, vehicles traveling on Kathleen will not be able to cross U.S. 95. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Idaho Transportation Department workers assess the U.S. 95 and Kathleen intersection on Monday after an impaired driver struck one of the light poles early Sunday morning. The driver was arrested. Be prepared to use an alternate route if you re driving east or west on Kathleen Avenue. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Courtesy photo David Clos, 42, was charged with felony DUI after crashing into a light pole at the intersection of U.S. 95 and Kathleen Avenue.
Fixing the traffic signals on U.S. 95 and Kathleen Avenue that were destroyed in a traffic accident early Sunday will take a half-million dollars and might not be completed until the end of the summer.
Idaho Transportation Department officials were looking for a quick fix this week to get traffic lights functioning.
The signals were damaged around 3 a.m. Sunday when a driver headed south on U.S. 95, David Clos, 42, wrapped his Toyota Tacoma pickup truck around one of the signal posts.
Clos, whose blood-alcohol content, according to police, was almost three times the legal limit, was arrested on charges of felony DUI. He appeared in court Monday. A judge set his bail at $60,000.
The Idaho Transportation Department immediately began working to repair the damaged signals and signal post by removing them, leaving the intersection without lights. Because the damage is significant and replacement costs are high, the department doesn’t expect to have a permanent fixture in place for several months.
“Those lights are custom-made, we don’t have any lying around we can put out there,” Megan Sausser of ITD said.
In the meantime, traffic rules will change at the intersection, Sausser said: No left turns onto the highway and no left turns off the highway will be allowed.
“Right turns only onto Kathleen, and right turns only from Kathleen onto 95,” Sausser said. “Thankfully there are some side streets there.”
The north and south traffic on U.S. 95 will flow freely through the light, she said.
Sausser estimated the cost of a permanent repair at $500,000. She said her department will likely ask the court to have Clos pay restitution.
“We will be looking to get the costs from the party that damaged these signals,” Sausser said.
Although the department plans a temporary fix this week that will include working traffic lights, the permanent replacement of poles and lights will be added when the department begins construction this summer on U.S. 95 from Appleway to Highway 53. The two-year refurbishing project will cost $8.5 million and will include taking out lights at Canfield and Bosanko avenues as well as adding a light at Wilbur Avenue. Improvements on the 9-mile section includes ADA-compliant curbs and ramps, turn lanes, coordinating traffic signals and bicycle/pedestrian path improvements.
Traffic counts have shown that 35,000 vehicles travel the U.S. 95 corridor between Coeur d’Alene and Highway 53 daily. That number jumps to 39,000 at its peak in July. In 20 years, the number is expected to hit 60,000.