The Western Federal Lands Highway Division of the Federal Highway Administration in partnership with the Coeur d’Alene River Ranger District of the Idaho Panhandle National Forest and Shoshone County will be performing pavement rehabilitation activities on a 13-mile portion of the Enaville-Thompson Pass Road, Forest Highway 9. This portion of the road extends from its junction with Forest Development Road 209, also known as Bumble Bee Road, to the bridge crossing the Coeur d’Alene River near the junction with Old River Road.

The pavement along this portion of the road has deteriorated to the point that it is showing signs of distress in the form of settlement, rutting, and cracking. This deterioration has reduced the life of the road and requires extensive maintenance activities, resulting in high maintenance costs. Also, there are areas of frost heave that make the roadway uneven and, as a result, hazardous under icy and snowy driving conditions. In this condition, standard engineering practices recommend that the pavement be rehabilitated in order to extend the life of the pavement and reduce life-cycle maintenance costs.

The following are specific actions to be implemented as part of the pavement rehabilitation project:

• Subexcavate poor, frost susceptible subgrade soils from portions of the road affected by frost heave and replace with high quality borrow material;
• Perform cold in-place recycling for existing asphalt with an overlay of hot asphalt concrete;
• Clean and reshape ditches;
• Clean culverts.

The above work will occur during the 2009 construction season, beginning in the spring and ending in the fall.

This project is being developed as part of the FHWA Public Lands Highway Program, financed by the Federal Highway Trust Fund.