SAGLE — The Bottle Bay Road intersection root canal is drawing near.

The project to widen the intersection and reroute the bike and pedestrian path beneath Bottle Bay Road is set to start on May 14, although it may be pushed back by a week, according to Steve Klatt, director of Bonner County Road & Bridge.

Klatt said some of the $750,000 project’s engineering submittals are still under review.

“It’s coming soon,” Klatt said of the project’s timing.

A safety audit funded through an Idaho Local Highway Technical Assistance Council grant determined that the intersection with U.S. Highway 95 was the route’s most hazardous aspect. The intersection is notoriously cramped and busy, in addition to having an at-grade bike path crossing. It’s been the site of numerous collisions involving motorists and cyclists.

An underpass is being constructed for the bike path and the intersection will be widened to accommodate left and right turn lanes.

However, there isn’t enough right of way available to install an acceleration lane for traffic coming off of Bottle Bay Road or a deceleration lane for Highway 95 traffic turning onto the county road, Klatt said.

The 90-day reconstruction project, which also being funded through LHTAC, will effectively close the intersection to motorists, which will force Bottle Bay, Comeback Bay and Fry Creek residents to use Lignite and Sagle roads to access U.S. 95. The inconvenience of the detour is not lost on county officials and there already have been a few complaints. However, Klatt said most appear to recognize the need for the project.

“Anybody that drives the road understands the hazard of that Bottle Bay intersection and the inconvenience if you’ve got somebody trying to turn left. There, like Lakeshore Drive, you can stack up a dozen cars behind at certain times,” said Klatt.

Although the intersection will be closed to the motoring public, private emergency access points are being established for law enforcement, emergency medical responders and firefighters.

“It’s a very legitimate concern so we have worked out access for them,” said Klatt.

Another project to reconstruct Bonner County’s portion of Bayview Road is going out to bid, meanwhile. Approximately three miles of the road in Bonner County have developed undulations in the road surface, which was further damaged by this winter’s freezing and thawing cycles.

The $1 million project is being funded through unanticipated excess revenue from the state highway user funds and the Idaho Transportation Department’s hiking of vehicle registration fees several years ago, Klatt said.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.