SANDPOINT — Progress on the North Boyer Road culvert has stalled as crews await a custom fitted pipe to be delivered, according to Sandpoint Public Works Director Holly Ellis.

Ellis said that the pipe is expected to be delivered from the manufacturer in South Dakota sometime between the middle of October to the middle of November. Once the pipe arrives, construction will begin immediately and take approximately two to three weeks to finish, Ellis said.  

"We were in communication as recently as this morning on the productivity and construction of the pipe,” Ellis said at the Sept. 17 City Council meeting. “Unfortunately, how we manufacture in the U.S. today, everything is made to order. So we are in line, waiting for our aluminum pipe to be bent and built.”  

Sandpoint Mayor Jeremy Grimm said at the Sept. 17 meeting that there are only two manufacturers in the country who make custom culvert pipes at the required size. Ellis had previously given an expected reopening date of late September, but due to the waitlist of these companies, that date is no longer feasible. 

At the Sept. 3 meeting, Grimm said that the city did not have a final price on the repairs and that the city may need to apply for disaster aid and financial support from Bonner County and the state of Idaho. In July, Ellis told the Daily Bee that the city had made $250,000 available from its reserves to fund the emergency project.  

Construction will not begin without the pipe, which is the last item needed by the city. Ellis told the Daily Bee on Aug. 7 that once the materials arrive, crews from Advanced Dirt Works will begin by removing the asphalt, water and rock away from the area.  

The section of North Boyer Road just after the fairgrounds was closed in early June, shortly after the city identified that the culvert’s condition was rapidly deteriorating. The city of Sandpoint declared the culvert failure as an emergency later in early July. 

Throughout the repair process, Ellis has stated that the city understands that the road is critical infrastructure during the winter season and is moving as fast as crews can to replace it.  

"We have all the Earthwork and contractors ready to go as soon as that culvert arrives,” Grimm said at the council’s Sept. 3 meeting. “We appreciate the patience of the public and those up on Schweitzer as we work to repair that emergency.”