SAGLE — A temporary solution is being eyed to make lefthand turns from Lakeshore Drive onto U.S. Highway 95 less treacherous and time consuming.

"I’m pushing it pretty hard right now," District 1 Sen. Jim Woodward said on Thursday.

Motorists coming off of Lakeshore have been clamoring for years for a project to make the intersection safer access to the highway. Motorists struggle to find a break in the steady flow of southbound traffic coming off the Long Bridge.

Impetuous or impatient motorists have occasionally been known to dart out into the intersection despite the onslaught of southbound traffic traveling at highway speed.

The near-term fix is being described as more than a Bandaid but less than a systemic solution to the problem.

"Oftentimes we look for the longterm, end-all solution and it gets so expensive we can’t afford it, and it takes a while for it to work its way up through the projects in the transportation system," said Woodward. "We at least need to do something in the interim to come up with a better answer than what’s there now."

Woodward said Bonner County Road & Bridge proposed a potential solution involving a Texas U-turn, which would make Lakeshore motorists join the flow of southbound traffic but allow them to reverse course safely and in fairly short order. Such U-turns, which are also known as Texas turnarounds, are already in place on U.S. 95 in Ponderay.

"There’s some validity to it," Woodward said of the county's proposal.

The project's very rough ballpark cost is in the range of $4-6 million.

Woodward said the state has ample room to work with due to the alignment of the current and former bridges across Pend Oreille Lake.

"There's still quite a bit of right of way through there," said Woodward.

Damon Allen, the Idaho Transportation Department's District 1 engineer, said the struggle at Lakeshore and U.S. 95 has been on the department's radar for some time.

"Lakeshore Drive is a known issue," Allen said during a legislative update on transportation matters on Wednesday. "It's a real problem."

Allen said a more permanent fix could involve an interchange or frontage roads.

"We're looking for a solution for that," Allen said.

Steve Klatt, director of Bonner County Road & Bridge, was pleased to see support for an interim project in the meantime.

"I was encouraged to hear Damon Allen also mention the conceptual project in his remarks as well. Our ITD District 1 Board Member, Jim Thompson, is pushing ITD to be taking a look at that intersection because of safety concerns," Klatt said.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com or followed on Twitter @KeithDailyBee