Getting There: Idaho Transportation Department updates plan for U.S. 95 expansion through Sagle

A 6-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 95 south of Lake Pend Oreille would be expanded to a divided freeway with interchanges, underpasses and frontage roads, according to a new concept by the Idaho Transportation Department.

The department updated the design after receiving negative public feedback about an earlier plan to route the freeway around the town of Sagle while bypassing businesses and cutting through private farmland and residences.

Now the preferred concept will follow the highway’s current path, but will require additional rights of way for wider lanes and new frontage roads. The freeway would have two 12-foot lanes in each direction, 10-foot shoulders and a 14-foot median with a concrete barrier.

These improvements will increase both safety and efficiency through an area that is growing more congested by separating high-speed, through-traffic from local traffic, ITD spokeswoman Heather McDaniel said.

A controlled access highway would allow higher speed limits through the area. Currently the highway slows to 45 mph through Sagle with a middle turn lane and a traffic light at Sagle Road.

Over 170 accidents and three fatalities were reported in the project area between 2018 and 2023, according to an ITD crash analysis. Average daily traffic is projected to increase by 64% from 2022 to 2045.

Interchanges with access to the frontage roads would be at Brisboys Road and Dufort Road north and south of Sagle. Two underpasses would be built over Ivy Drive/Algoma Spur Road and Monarch Road/N. Gun Club Road.

The frontage road network would connect parts of both sides of the highway and a 10-foot pedestrian pathway would follow frontage roads to Long Bridge over Lake Pend Oreille to Sandpoint.

A common objection against the project is that Long Bridge, which leads U.S. 95 over Lake Pend Oreille to Sandpoint, would still be a two-lane bottleneck.

ITD responded in a document answering popular questions that it is prioritizing the project through Sagle before expanding the bridge to address the safety concerns and mitigate local traffic first. The bridge is being separately considered for eventual replacement at the end of its lifespan.

The bridge is two separate structures built side by side. On the east is the original bridge built in 1956, now exclusively used for pedestrians. The west bridge for vehicles was built in 1981. Both bridges underwent repairs in 2021 and are expected to last 100 years from their original construction date.

When the bridge is eventually replaced and widened at the end of its service life, ITD said it will result in a more seamless transition for motorists from U.S. 95 onto the bridge.

Satellite renderings appear to show the highway expansion overlapping the properties of a storage facility, RV park, gas station and other businesses in Sagle.

McDaniel said ITD is still working on design details and it is too early to know the exact right -of -way needs. The department will share more information about right of way as the design progresses.

The next step for the project is an environmental re-evaluation to be completed in 2026. After that, funding can be secured, the design can be finalized and rights of way purchased before construction begins.

Depending on funding, the project could begin in five to 10 years, McDaniel said.

ITD will take public comments on the design through Oct. 31. Project details can be viewed on ITD’s website.