The Idaho Transportation Department is in the final stages of acquiring the Trestle Creek Inn building and plans to demolish the longtime night club near Hope, Idaho, to make way for highway improvements, says Barbara Babic, ITD spokeswoman.

The $3 million project will involve constructing a new bridge at Trestle Creek, 13 miles east of Sandpoint on State Route 200, and widening that portion of the highway, Babic says. The highway, also named the Pend Oreille Scenic Byway, runs from U.S. 95 north of Sandpoint along the north shore of Lake Pend Oreille, though the town of Clark Fork, and to the Montana line.

A 105-foot-long bridge is scheduled to be constructed in 2013, Babic says. The Trestle Creek Inn, which is on the south side of the highway near the Trestle Creek Recreation Area and is no longer in business, is in the project's right of way, she says.

The bridge will be a test project as part of Idaho's accelerated bridge construction program and likely will involve precast concrete elements, including deck beams, and abutments. Precast bridges can reduce construction time and have lower construction and maintenance costs, compared with bridges constructed on site, ITD's website says.