PONDERAY - Motorists will encounter a significant traffic revision at the Y intersection this week.

Northbound traffic is scheduled to shift Thursday onto the Sand Creek Byway in order to gain access to U.S. Highway 95 North. Motorists headed west on Highway 200 who miss the Kootenai Cutoff Road turnoff will also use the new highway alignment to access U.S. 95 North.

Both groups of motorists will use the new cloverleaf on-ramp and the 91-meter bridge northeast of the Y to reach U.S. 95 North.

The traffic revision will remain in place until the U.S. 95 bypass is complete.

"When we make the swap, you can expect this configuration - or some modification of it - from here on out," said Shane Webley of Parsons RCI, the byway's lead contractor.

Perhaps the biggest difference northbound drivers will notice is that it will take a right-hand turn, rather than a left, in order to reach U.S. 95 in Ponderay.

The northbound two-lane stretch of road north of Larch Street in Sandpoint will be reduced to one lane and drivers will encounter a new traffic light in the vicinity of the current one.

Motorists looking to head north on U.S. 95 or east on Highway 200 will proceed through the signal. Highway 95 motorists will peel off to the right to access the cloverleaf and overpass, while Highway 200 motorists use a through lane to continue east.

Southbound U.S. 95 motorists in Ponderay will also be using the new highway alignment east of the existing alignment. They will encounter the new traffic signal and have the ability to turn right to access Sandpoint or left to access Highway 200.

Part of the existing alignment used by north and southbound U.S. 95 traffic in Ponderay will be obliterated and developed into a wetland mitigation site.

Although the two-lane section of road north of Larch Street will squeeze to one, project officials are optimistic traffic will move smoothly because traffic will not be stacking up at the existing Y traffic signal to turn left to access U.S. 95 North. Once they pass through the new signal, they will have unimpeded access to U.S. 95 North.

Sandpoint Councilwoman Carrie Logan is hoping the loss of the northbound lane will be balanced by the lack of left turn at the Y.

"It could equalize," she said.

The north end of the Sand Creek Byway remains closed to traffic, but misdirected motorists have inadvertently been using it. Some have even driven through multiple sets of barricades while somehow thinking they were on the right path.

Webley said a recreational vehicle was found deep within the project on the east side of Sand Creek last weekend. Ponderay Police Chief Mike Hutter said he found a motorist on the 91-meter bridge on Monday.

The Idaho Transportation Department plans to erect variable-message boards at several locations to advise motorists of the traffic revision they are headed toward.