The Idaho Transportation Department has three major highway projects underway and planned in and around Post Falls with a total value of over $280 million.

A multiyear, $78 million freeway reconstruction project is continuing this year at the Interstate 90/Idaho Route 41 interchange in east Post Falls.

Shannon Stein, ITD project manager, says work on the interchange will focus this year on completing construction of the eastbound I-90 bridges where girders were recently set. That will be followed with constructing the first half of the westbound bridges and some paving.

Kent, Washington-based heavy civil contractor Scarsella Bros. Inc. is the contractor on the project.

Stein says most work on the interchange will be completed by fall 2025, with final work to be completed in the spring of 2026.

Meantime, ITD will seek bids next month on the state Route 53/Pleasantview Road interchange project in northwest Post Falls.

Construction on that interchange, which has an initial budget of $45 million, is expected to begin this summer and be conducted in three phases over two years.

The project will include closing three at-grade railroad crossings and building a new interchange that will separate vehicle traffic from train tracks that typically are used by more than 45 trains daily.

The work has been moved up four years ahead of the state’s original construction schedule with the aid of a $36 million grant through the Federal Railroad Administration. Other entities contributing to the funding include the ITD, the Post Falls Highway District, and BNSF Railway Co.

The largest of the three major highway projects currently in the works is the planned $160 million to $200 million Interstate 90 widening project from Post Falls to Coeur d’Alene. Stein says that project, which will accommodate growing traffic volume on the freeway, is under environmental review with a potential for construction to begin next year.