Sandpoint to get bypassed (but not forgotten)

The stretch of U.S. Highway 95 that passes through Sandpoint is one of the cutest, most quaint, and by far slowest sections of the entire highway. Drivers are forced to slow to 25mph and make several 90 degree angle turns before exiting the small north Idaho town. Officials from the Idaho Department of Transportation have seen this section of the highway as a problem for nearly fifty years but have held off any action due to concerns of a bypasses' economic effect on downtown Sandpoint.

The bypass project has been in the hands of the courts since 2005 when North Idaho Community Action Network sued Idaho and federal highway officials. The group claimed that the officials had not conducted proper reviews of the environmental impact that the bypass would have on the lake shore and creek that it would cross.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Wednesday, gave the go ahead to start construction on the bypass. There is still opposition to the construction for economic and aesthetic reasons so only time will tell if the bypass actually gets built.