DOVER — Motorists on U.S. Highway 2 can expect delays of up to 30 minutes on weekday afternoons as excavation begins for the new Dover Bridge.

The excavation work starts Monday and is expected to last through Oct. 15, the deadline for the Idaho Transportation Department to button up earth-disturbing road projects for the winter.

The excavation work, which includes blasting, will require traffic to be stopped in both directions to protect the safety of motorists. The delays are expected to occur Monday through Friday from approximately 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., according to ITD.

“They’ve got to get all of that material out and they have to do it safely,” said Barbara Babic, ITD’s District 1 spokeswoman.

Construction of the new $21.6 million span began last month. The new five-lane structure will replace a 72-year-old bridge with overhead obstructions and other restrictions.

Construction of the bridge has forced the closure of the end of the Sandpoint-to-Dover bike and pedestrian path. There is no plan as yet to detour non-motorized traffic around the site, although Babic said the matter is being considered.

“We’re looking into that,” she said.

A new path is being constructed along the new highway alignment for the bridge, but it won’t be accessible during construction, which is forecasted to last two years.

Meanwhile, a proposal is pending to resolve a right of way dispute between Union Pacific and Dover Bay developer Ralph Sletager. The railroad contends Sletager built a trail connecting Dover Bay with the Dover trail without its knowledge or consent.

“We’ve been working diligently with Union Pacific to arrive at a plan to salvage that connecting piece of the bike path,” Sletager said in a statement.

The proposed agreement would require Sletager to retroactively lease the property where the trail was built for an undisclosed sum until Oct. 1, said Tom Lange, UP’s director of corporate communications for the West. After that date, the annual lease would be assigned to North Idaho Bikeways, which developed the trail connecting Sandpoint and Dover.

Lange said North Idaho Bikeways approached UP last year about allowing the construction of a bike path on the right of way, but the request was denied because the railroad wanted to preserve that area for potential rail expansion.

A similar reason would have been cited had Sletager asked for UP for permission before building the trail.

“We cannot condone this activity, but in the interests of the community, Union Pacific has re-evaluated alternative solutions to allow the trail to remain for ongoing use, rather than remove the trail,” Lange said in an e-mail to The Daily Bee.