SANDPOINT — Five Bonner County roads which provide a direct benefit to U.S. Forest Service lands have been selected for improvement using more than $2 million in federal stimulus dollars.

The county and the Forest Service entered into a cooperative agreement earlier this year to consider 13 forest road projects which could be improved using American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 funding.

The following five projects rose to the top of the ranking matrix:

n North Nordman Road

This project involves nearly four miles of asphalt overlay and 300 feet of reconstructed roadway north of Priest Lake. The $609,000 project begins at the end of Highway 57 and the start of Forest Service Road No. 203 and extends past an existing snowmobile parking area.

n Upper Pack River Road

Almost two and a half miles of this gravel road northeast of Sandpoint would be paved and the Hellroaring Creek crossingwould be improved with guardrail. The project is projected to cost $774,000.

n Lightning Creek Road

Two and a half miles of this gravel road north of Clark Fork would convert from gravel to hard surface and portions of the road vulnerable to rock slides would either be protected with barrier, slope stabilization or a combination thereof. This $685,000 project would begin at the end of the existing pavement.

n West Lakeshore Road

This $520,000 project would widen and pave a little more than a mile and a half of road on the west side of Priest Lake. The project starts at Luby Bay Road and extends to Reynolds Creek.

n Gleason-McAbee Falls Road

Nearly three and a half miles of this road north of Priest River would be given an aggregate top course for leveling and then it would be paved. This project’s budget is $717,000, although its completion would depend on additional stimulus funding or if other projects come in under budget.

“There’s potential that there might be additional dollars,” Bonner County Road & Bridge Supervisor Ryan Luttmann said of the Gleason-McAbee Falls project.

Luttmann said all five projects could go out to bid before the year is out, but he anticipates only the North Nordman project would start construction this year because it’s an overlay project.

The other projects would likely start in 2011, said Luttmann.

Bonner County commissioners approved professional services agreements with J-U-B Engineers on Tuesday to oversee the projects.

Commissioner Cornel Rasor does not support the acceptance of the stimulus funding.

“The problem is that we’ve already obligated ourselves,” Rasor said during the board’s discussion.

All five of the projects fell under the “simple” category during the review process. Other simple projects considered but not selected included East River Road, Kalispell Creek Road and Dry Creek Road. “Complex” projects considered but not selected included work on Johnson, Trestle and Trout creek roads.

The costliest project considered was Trestle Creek ($1.3 million), while the most inexpensive was Kalispell Creek Road ($219,000).

Nearly $3.5 million was awarded for the projects, although about $1 million has been allocated for work on Quartz Creek and Cottonwood roads, both of which are Forest Service routes. The Forest Service has requested an additional $2 million in ARRA funding, but the request is still pending, according to an executive summary of the projects.