The Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) has expanded its plan for U.S. Highway 95. The new concept of the 6-mile stretch includes the additions of a divided freeway with interchanges, underpasses and frontage roads.
The earlier design received negative feedback. Now the preferred concept will follow the highway’s current path but will require additional rights of way for wider lanes and new frontage roads.
The freeway would have two 12-foot lanes in each direction, 10-foot shoulders and a 14-foot median with a concrete barrier.
These improvements aim to increase safety and efficiency through an area that is growing more congested by separating high-speed, through-traffic from local traffic, according to ITD Spokesperson Heather McDaniel.
Over 170 accidents and three fatalities were reported in the project area between 2018 and 2023, according to an ITD crash analysis. Average daily traffic is projected to increase by 64% from 2022 to 2045
ITD is still working on the design details, and it is too early to know about right of way as the design progresses, according to McDaniel.
The next step for the project is an environmental re-evaluation to be completed in 2026. After that, funding can be secured, the design can be finalized and rights of way purchased before construction begins.
Depending on funding, the project could begin in five to 10 years, McDaniel said.
Source: The Lewiston Tribune, The Spokesman-Review
