Photo courtesy of the Idaho Transportation Department

A rendering of the Clearwater Memorial Bridge upon completion.

The Clearwater Memorial Bridge project on U.S. 12 in Clearwater County, Idaho, is mostly complete and opened to both vehicular and pedestrian traffic on Dec. 4, 2024, according to the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

"We're really excited and just in time for holiday traffic," Mark Pfeifer, a spokesperson of the Idaho Transportation Department in Lewiston, told the Daily News.

Photo courtesy of the Idaho Transportation Department

Construction on the federally funded project began in 2023 at an estimated cost of $38.3 million. Project contractors were Wadsworth Brothers Construction Co., of Draper, Utah, the paper reported.

Pfeifer said the project is designed to improve safety on the bridge built in 1951.

Travelers will be using wider travel lanes, shoulders, median and sidewalks. In addition, the bridge was updated to current standards, meaning reduced weight restrictions for heavy loads no longer exist, according to a news release from the ITD.

The revamped bridge will maintain the same number of traffic lanes but will feature wider shoulders and sidewalks, along with a painted median. The traffic lanes will increase from 62 ft. to more than 79 ft.

A deck seal and additional light construction are scheduled for early summer in 2025, the Daily News reported.

The construction began on the bridge's east side, leaving the west side operational for traffic. That was switched in June to allow for west side construction, according to the Idaho Transportation Department website.

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