U.S. 95 work still on target

Less traffic offsets virus-related problems

Highway officials won’t say if the U.S. 95 project through Coeur d’Alene will be done this year, but that’s the plan.

“With the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s possible that schedules could shift,” said Megan Sausser, transportation department spokeswoman.

So far, the work is on schedule — all $65 million worth.

Engineers and administrators will know better by June if the intersection lights at Wilbur and Kathleen avenues will be in place, or whether lights at West Canfield Avenue will be removed on time.

Meanwhile, the department and its contractors are taking advantage of reduced traffic volumes to work on paving, intersections and a curbed median project up and down the corridor, in addition to a bridge project at Highway 53 north of Hayden, Sausser said.

The $9.3 million worth of U.S. 95 work through Coeur d’Alene includes placing a new set of traffic lights at the Kathleen Avenue intersection. The old lights were damaged by a driver and had to be replaced.

Concrete was just poured for signal foundations, and the permanent signal is expected to be in place by late June, Sausser said.

“At which point we’ll be done working at this intersection,” she said.

The department plans to have a short section of Neider Avenue paved by next month, and it is working on widening both the eastbound and westbound lanes of Hanley Avenue at the U.S. 95 intersection. The Hanley work should also be completed in June, Sausser said.

The traffic signal at Canfield Avenue are scheduled to be removed in late summer, and two lights, one at Wilbur and another at Miles Avenue, are set to be installed this year.

The signal for Wilbur is expected in late July, and the Miles light should be installed by the end of September, according to ITD.

Curbed medians prevent motorists from crossing or making left-hand turns onto U.S. 95 from side streets. The medians also allow for U.S. 95 traffic to safely make left-hand turns at non-signal intersections.

By the end of this year, the medians will have been installed at every non-signalized intersection from Appleway to Miles.

“We are done with the curbed medians ... except for the one that will be installed at Canfield after the signal is removed,” Sausser said.

The Wilbur project — in conjunction with the City of Coeur d’Alene — will connect U.S. 95 via Wilbur Avenue with Government Way at Dalton Gardens.

Because the new road crosses through a section of Coeur d’Alene north of the Silver Lake Plaza, the city is a partner in the work.

The city will pay $672,300 over three years for the work as part of a matching funds arrangement. When it’s done, Wilbur Avenue will consist of a three-lane section with two travel lanes and one center turn lane, bike lanes, and sidewalks, city engineer Chris Bosely said.

A portion of the street on the north side will have on-street parking.

“Which was included in order to accommodate funeral procession queues for the adjacent cemetery,” Bosely said. “It was part of right-of-way negotiations with the property owner.”

Most of the street will be 43 feet from curb to curb, with 8-foot sidewalks.

Work on the sidewalks, curbs and gutters will start this week, according to ITD.

A federal grant paid for $5.1 million of the U.S. 95 corridor project. An additional $41 million in state bonds, plus $13.9 million in other federal funding, will pay for the work at Highway 53 overpass north of Hayden.

So far, the girders are in place on the railroad bridge, and the retaining walls for the bridge over U.S. 95 are done. The driving surface for the railroad bridge will be completed in May, Sausser said.

All the projects are on schedule, she said.

Fingers crossed.