Lakeshore Drive construction underway

By Reader Staff

Construction began Oct. 6 at the intersection of Lakeshore Drive and US-95 at the southern end of the Long Bridge, part of “efforts to improve US-95 near Sandpoint,” according to a media release from the Idaho Transportation Department.

Over the six weeks of work, crews will build both southbound and northbound acceleration lanes for traffic turning onto US-95 from Lakeshore Drive.

“The contractor will maintain one lane of traffic in each direction on the highway at all times, so impacts to drivers on US-95 are expected to be minimal,” said ITD Project Manager Phil Stout.

The southern entrance to Smokehouse Road will close for the duration of work.

Crews will also establish turn lanes with new striping on Lakeshore Drive. The existing center turn lane on US-95 will transition to a dedicated turn lane for northbound traffic turning left onto the side street.

“This will be the first phase of improvements for this intersection,” Stout said. “We are currently designing the second phase, tentatively planned for 2022, which could include median U-turns for Lakeshore Drive and/or Bottle Bay Road.”

A traffic signal is also planned with the second phase of improvements a few miles south at the intersection of US-95 and Sagle Road.

“As it’s still in design, what is or isn’t included with the second phase could change,” Stout said. “We plan to host an open house in November once we have a better idea of what will work.”

Visit itdprojects.org/us95lakeshoredrive for more information, and go to 511.idaho.gov for updated traffic impacts.