The next phase of work is set to begin soon on a project to widen and improve safety on a 30-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 95 in North Idaho, between Hayden and just south of Sandpoint.

The Idaho Transportation Department recently awarded a $21 million contract to Scarsella Brothers Inc., of Kent, Wash., to complete road widening and other related work on a five-mile stretch of the highway between Athol and what's known as the Granite Hill area, says Barbara Babic, a Coeur d'Alene-based spokeswoman for the agency.

The federally-funded project calls for widening those 30 miles of U.S. 95 from a two-lane to a four-lane divided highway, and this contract covers the third phase of work.

The first and only completed stage of the project started in Hayden, near the intersection of U.S. 95 and Wyoming Avenue, and extended five miles north from there to Ohio Match Road, in Garwood.

Earlier this summer, Scarsella Brothers also began work on the project's second phase under a $36 million contract to widen a six-mile stretch of the road between Ohio Match and Bunco Road, in Athol. That construction is ongoing, and the contractor will continue to work there and under the new contract at the same time, Babic says.

Work on the third phase will begin where phase two is planned to end in the area of Bunco Road, near Silverwood Theme Park, and will extend about five miles north to where the highway intersects Granite Loop Road, the transportation department says.

Also included in phase three is the construction of a new interchange to eliminate an at-grade highway crossing at the intersection of U.S. 95 and Idaho State Highway 54, in Athol, Babic says. Other interchanges being built as part of the overall project are to be constructed at Chilco and Bunco roads, and are part of Scarsella Brothers' second-phase contract.

Construction of both the second and third phases is scheduled to be completed in 2013, Babic says. Work on the project will shut down for the winter starting on Oct. 15 and will resume again on April 15, she adds.

Currently, the contractor is working on realigning some frontage roads that parallel U.S. 95 where the widening will be performed. Babic says the transportation department hopes that work will be finished before winter because traffic will be rerouted to those roads when work picks up again in the spring.

She adds that the department hasn't secured any funding to continue the project north of where the upcoming stage of work is planned to end at Granite Hill. From there, about 15 miles remain to be widened between Granite Hill and Sagle, where the road widening is planned to end.