Construction is set to begin on a re-routing project aimed at expanding U.S. Highway 95 south of Moscow to improve safety for motorists.
Idaho Transportation Department crews have started to survey the area from Thorn Creek Road to Moscow.
The project, which ITD has been planning since 1999, will shift 6.5 miles of the highway to the east and expand it from two lanes to four. According to the department, it will also include flatter grades, fewer approaches and less severe curves.
Crews will begin earthwork and the construction of two new bridges over Eid Road this year.
The project still faces a legal challenge. Paradise Ridge Defense Coalition filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers claiming the agency incorrectly granted a Clean Water Act permit to the ITD for the project.
The case is the fourth time the nonprofit group has challenged plans to reroute the highway. It claims the new route will harm the Palouse Prairie, big game habitat and several wetlands. (Lewiston Tribune)
