The Idaho Transportation Department recently has awarded contracts totaling $12.4 million for highway projects now in their early construction stages in North Idaho, says Marvin Fenn, the department’s Coeur d’Alene-based District 1 engineering manager.

The department, through its Coeur d’Alene office, also expects to award bids in late summer for projects budgeted at more than $16.7 million and scheduled to be constructed in 2017, Fenn says.

Among current projects, ITD awarded a $4.5 million contract to Poe Asphalt Paving Inc., of Clarkston, Wash., for a highway resurfacing project on state Route 41 from Rathdrum to the state Route 54 junction, in north Kootenai County, he says.

The project involves rehabilitating 10 miles of roadway using cement recycled asphalt base stabilization with an asphalt mix overlay, Fenn says. The process reuses the old road material to create a base for the new roadway, saving on raw materials, construction time, and costs.

The resurfacing project will be coupled with a 31-mile safety project that will reach into Bonner County on Route 41 and include improvements at Seasons Road, Spirit Lake Cutoff Road, and Old Priest River Road, he says.

Improvements will include constructing turn lanes at each of the intersections. 

The improvements at Seasons Road also will include additional signage and delineators around the curve north of the intersection.

Spirit Lake Cutoff Road improvements will include centerline rumble strips to emphasize the no-passing zone, intersection lighting, reflective guardrail markings, and truck-tipping warning signs in both directions.

Old Priest River Road improvements will include intersection lighting and reflective markings.

The rehabilitation and safety projects are being funded through an Idaho Legislature-approved transfer of unallocated surplus dollars for transportation projects, Fenn says.

In a project on Interstate 90 east of Coeur d’Alene, ITD has awarded Concrete Placing Co., of Boise, a $4.7 million contract to replace the state Route 97 bridge at the Wolf Lodge interchange, about six miles east of Coeur d’Alene.

The project will include reconstruction of on- and off-ramps to meet current standards, Fenn says.

The bridge project also is being funded through a transfer of unallocated state surplus funds.

In a project just south of Kootenai County, the Rathdrum division of Spokane-based Interstate Concrete & Asphalt Co. has been awarded a $2.1 million contract to rehabilitate 3.8 miles of pavement on U.S. 95 from the north Benewah County line to Worley.

Separately, West Co., of Airway Heights, has won a $1.1 million contract to reconstruct the St. Maries River Railroad underpass on state Route 5, about eight miles east of Plummer.

The project will include reconstructing and realigning a half-mile of roadway with a lower profile to increase the underpass clearance. It also will include installing a 14-foot-high, 400-foot-long concrete or reinforced-earth retaining wall and a concrete guardrail.

The U.S 95 and Route 5 projects are being funded through the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program.

Contractor bids will be opened in late summer for projects to be constructed in 2017.

One North Idaho project funded through the improvement program will be a $15 million, full reconstruction of a four-mile section of I-90 from the Northwest Boulevard interchange to the Sherman Avenue interchange, in Coeur d’Alene. The project will be coupled with a $710,000 safety project that will provide auxiliary lanes on I-90 between the U.S. 95 and Fourth Street interchanges.

Another improvement program-funded North Idaho project is budgeted at $1 million and will involve improvements at the U.S. 95-Ironwood Drive intersection in north Coeur d’Alene. 

In St. Maries, two projects planned on state Route 3 are budgeted for $9.6 million combined and will be coupled together. The projects will include replacing the structures and foundations of the St. Joe River Bridge and a railroad bridge.