Getting There: ITD proposes 13 alternatives to expand Rathdrum Prairie highways

The Idaho Transportation Department is looking for public input on more than a dozen proposals to reconfigure the roads and highways surrounding Rathdrum Prairie in Kootenai County.

The department is on the second phase of a planning and environmental linkages study looking at ways to improve traffic through the corridor between Interstate 90, U.S. Highway 95, Idaho Highway 53 and the Washington state line. While traffic in the area is already congested, it is only expected to increase with projected population growth, said ITD spokeswoman Heather McDaniel.

Currently, ITD classifies eight intersections in the study area with the highest levels of congestion during peak rush hour. If nothing is done by 2045, that number is expected to increase to 38 intersections and six road segments. The county’s population is expected to nearly double to 320,000 people by 2045, according to forecasts by the Kootenai Metropolitan Planning Organization.

“We’re trying to plan ahead for some of that infrastructure,” McDaniel said.

ITD first came up with 56 concepts to expand, reconfigure or build new roads through the area. Those concepts were screened for safety, feasibility, efficiency and other factors. Whittled down to 13, those concepts are now being considered in comparison to one another.

The alternatives can be viewed as part of an ITD presentation on the website: rathdrumprairiepel.com/PIM-3. Comments on the proposed alternatives can be submitted through Friday to info@rathdrumprairiepel.com.

Some of the proposals would add lanes to Highway 53, realign Highway 53 or make it a controlled -access highway without intersections; or would bring U.S. 95 to three lanes in each direction with a median or add separate express lanes parallel to U.S. 95. Other combinations add four-lane arterials along existing roads through middle portions of the prairie. Yet another idea would be to build a new highway parallel to the Union Pacific Railroad crossing diagonally northeast/southwest from Post Falls to U.S. 95 north of Hayden.

These concepts are larger than a single construction project. The alternatives would involve multiple short- and long-term projects including local roads.

After feedback is collected, ITD will come back sometime next year with a smaller handful of proposals for another round of public comment, McDaniel said.

The alternatives would then proceed through a National Environmental Policy Act review, so that the projects are ready to move forward when funding becomes available.

The proposals are separate from two other projects involving I-90 that are already in progress. Construction of an interchange at Idaho Highway 41 in Post Falls is expected to finish next year. Also beginning next year, ITD plans to expand the interstate from two lanes to four in each direction along the 5 miles from Highway 41 to U.S. 95 in Coeur d’Alene.