ITD updates U.S. 95 expansion plan
ERIC WELCH | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 2 months, 1 week AGO
ITD revised its draft design for a US-95 expansion through Sagle to shift an underpass a quarter mile north and add a quarter-mile-long access road along the highway.
Photo courtesy IDAHO DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
SAGLE — After dozens of residents voiced opinions in an October 2024 open house, Idaho Transportation Department revised its planned expansion of U.S. Highway 95 through Sagle.
In the new plan, ITD removed a planned underpass at Ivy Drive and Algoma Spur Road and shifted it a quarter mile north to Sagle Road. The department also introduced a quarter-mile-long access road adjacent to U.S. 95 across the highway from Ivy Drive.
The department began planning in 2020 to transform the 6-mile section of U.S. 95 between Lakeshore Drive and Dufort Road into a four-lane divided highway to alleviate safety concerns and prepare for increased use. Since then, residents have given feedback through a series of open houses as ITD works toward completing a preliminary design.
“Currently, funding is not identified for the final design and construction of this project,” Heather McDaniel, ITD public information officer, said in a video on the project’s website. “At the present time, ITD does not anticipate construction of the proposed concept for approximately 10-15 years unless funding becomes available sooner.”
Some residents have said the four-lane concept — which includes frontage roads on either side of the highway and two interchanges — will inhibit local access and have advocated instead for traffic lights and speed limit reductions to improve safety in the area.
ITD has said the plan doesn’t include the measures because stoplights and reduced limits could present a hazard by creating extreme speed variances on the roadway. Additionally, the department said the corridor is an important commercial artery, and that it must also consider the need to allow trucks and other freight vehicles to pass through the area easily.
Many locals have also worried the expanded corridor will be bottlenecked by the two-lane Long Bridge immediately north of the project area.
ITD has received “an overwhelming amount of feedback regarding potential congestion on the bridge,” McDaniel said; the department approved $200,000 in December 2024 for a 2025 study that will examine replacement options for the Long Bridge.
A new Long Bridge, however, is likely further out than the U.S. 95 expansion, according to ITD officials. The department estimates it will cost at least $225 million to reconstruct the northbound half of the 2-mile-long crossing alone.
Information: itdprojects.idaho.gov/pages/us-95-dufort-to-lakeshore
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