Priest River — A four-day sewer improvement plan within U.S. Route 2 (Highway 2) was unanimously approved by city council at the April 13 special meeting. Big Sky construction foreman Eric Henseyal presented two detour options for councilmembers to review and the council selected Option 1 with an agreement to mitigate remaining safety concerns prior to the April 20 meeting. Both options were provided by the city engineers of Mountain Waterworks.

Option 1 will force eastbound traffic to turn south on Washington Ave., east on Montgomery St., North on Treat St. and east to get back onto Highway 2. Westbound traffic will turn south on Treat St., west on Montgomery St., north on Wisconsin St. and then west to get back onto Highway 2.

Councilmember Kevin Wylie expressed concern about a large spruce tree on the corner of Montgomery St. and Treat St. that blocks view of oncoming traffic. Wylie also said it’s a tight corner to make for bigger trucks.

“I am actually on the route right now … it’s kind of tight right there,” Wylie said. “I think it’s still the best route, I just don’t want them to cut the corner too much and have a car coming around that corner and get taken out.

“You just kind of tell from the dust marks here that the trucks don’t really swing it real wide.”

Mayor Jim Martin suggested talking to Chief of Police Drew McLain for street security and lowering the speed limit to 15 MPH. Martin also said a stop sign may be the best option to alert oncoming traffic of the detour ahead.

Currently, there are no stop signs for either Option 1 or Option 2’s detour route.

Henseyal said the limited stop sign use is to generally encourage flow on the roadway, however, he is considering putting trash bags on the current stop signs and using a temporary stop sign for the other sides to direct traffic as needed. In addition, the crew is considering flashing lights on the roadside for night drives and cones to shove eastbound traffic out as far as possible.

“We will just have to plan on having traffic control people to watch it (the detour) work there for the first day and make any adjustments as necessary, just kind of on the fly,” He said. “But, I have thought through a lot of these things and I think we are pretty close.”

Henseyal recommended Option 1 to council because it involves a shorter detour through town and would not drive traffic through the middle of the downtown at High St. Option 2 suggested eastbound traffic south on Franklin St., east on High St., north on McKinley St. and east onto the highway. Westbound traffic would have turned south on Treat St., west on Montgomery St., north on Washington Ave. and then west on the highway.

Martin agreed with Henseyal’s recommendation for Option 1 and said the project was making effective use of decreased traffic flow due to Gov. Brad Little’s stay-home order in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s a good time to get this thing done before it really opens up and traffic is picked back up,” Martin said. “We have to close the highway down, so … I guess Washington (St.) probably is going to be the best street to come down. I know Franklin (St.) for sure not, Church (St.) could be a possibility, but with what they’ve got now with Option 1, I would be OK with what they are doing there.”

Now that the city has authorized the construction project, Henseyal is just waiting for approval from the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) to approve the plan. He is hoping to start as soon as possible and has already ordered manholes for Highway 2, expecting to begin late April.

The second item on the agenda also involved improvements for the city’s sewer system, which is a part of the 2018 Sewer Improvement Project. This project has been working on the installation and construction of wastewater collection system repairs such as pipe replacements, manhole replacements, service line connections and jack and bore casing at the crossing of BNSF Railroad.

Priest River city council anticipated a documented formal agreement with Pend Oreille Valley Railroad to come before council on April 13, however, Martin is still waiting to connect with officials.

“Our wastewater system is sitting on the other side of the railroad tracks, so we have to bore underneath those tracks,” City Clerk Laurel Thomas said. “We have an agreement with BNSF (Railroad), but we are just waiting for that last piece.”

Pend Oreille Valley Railroad manages the railway, while BNSF Railroad owns the railway. Martin was granted approval from the council to accept an agreement between the city and Pend Oreille Valley Railroad if it comes before the April 20 meeting and will wait until council approval before signing the official legal document.

“We were hoping to have it today and we don’t so if we get it tomorrow (Friday), I think that we want to get these guys rolling as soon as we can,” Martin said.

No agreement was made at the time this article was published.

Aly De Angelus can be reached by email at adeangelus@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @AlyDailyBee.