Lapwai Creek Bridge

The Lapwai Creek Bridge project began 2011 and is still underway. The new bridge will replace seven multi-span bridges near Culdesac, Idaho.

The project presented several unique challenges. The most significant was the narrowness of the original bridges and the lack of sufficient shoulder space to allow two-way traffic during construction.

The Idaho Transportation Department wanted to divide the project into two seasonal phases with a period of 24-hour flagging throughout the winter. Wadsbro chose instead to accelerate the schedule and finish the first phase early in autumn. This allowed for the creation of temporary paving, which freed the flow of traffic, removed the necessity of 24-hour flagging, and ultimately saved taxpayers about a million dollars.

The Lapwai Creek Bridge will continue construction this summer, and is expected to be completed by the summer of 2013.