Bonners Ferry Local Guide including all of Boundary County Idaho

Court: Sandpoint highway bypass can go forward

Wednesday, August 27, 2008; IDST

After five decades of planning, appeals and court fights, the Idaho Transportation Department can start building a highway to divert traffic away from downtown Sandpoint. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a brief order Wednesday allowing construction to begin. The ruling came just two days after a hearing in which a lawyer for environmental and community activists asked the court to reinstate the activists' challenge of the $98 million project, claiming federal reviews were insufficient. - Full Story