Engineering work has begun for a planned new freeway interchange that would serve the big Cabelas Inc. sporting goods store thats under construction on the west edge of Post Falls.


Dave Larsen, who heads up Idaho projects for Spokane-based Taylor Engineering Inc., says that company has begun to stake out the proposed Beck Road-Interstate 90 interchange. The interchange would be located roughly halfway between the Pleasant View interchange, in Post Falls, and the State Line interchange on the Washington state side of the border.


The engineering and design work is scheduled to be completed in time for construction to begin on the interchange in the spring of 2009, Larsen says.


Bill Melvin, Post Falls city engineer, says construction then will take a good, hard year, depending on the final design.


HDR Engineering Inc., of Coeur dAlene, is the primary engineering consultant for the new interchange, and Taylor Engineering will design the roadway and the utility infrastructure portions of the project, Larsen says.


Beck Road is a north-south road that intersects with Seltice Way to the north and currently ends just north of Interstate 90.


The planned interchange, currently estimated to cost $30 million, is on an exceptionally fast track, because it would be paid for up front by Sidney, Neb.-based Cabelas and thus doesnt have to await the normal state funding-approval process.


The Idaho Legislature approved a measure in March that allows private parties to improve freeway and highway access for retail and commercial developments then receive later from the state rebates of 60 percent of the sales tax the developments generate to cover the costs of the access projects.


Because it will be funded initially through private means, hopefully it can move design and construction of the interchange at a brisk pace, Melvin says.


The Federal Highway Administration must approve the design for the interchange. The Idaho Transportation Department will be the liaison between Cabelas and the Federal Highway Administration, says Barbara Babic, ITD spokeswoman.


Were at the stage of putting together necessary agreements, Babic says.


Due to Idahos funding constraints, ITD has higher priorities for projects it plans to build, and the Beck Road interchange isnt even in the departments five year plan, Babic says. On the departments 20-year plan, however, the interchange is included, and the cost of it is estimated at $40 million.


Babic says the department supports the accelerated construction of the Beck Road interchange as long as it doesnt hurt the chances of money to come through for currently planned ITD projects.


Although the interchange would be the pilot project under the Idaho legislation that allows for the sales-tax rebates, an earlier project that was accelerated in part through the use of private funds was the Franklin Boulevard interchange improvements at Interstate 84 in Nampa, Idaho, Babic says.


There, MPC Corp., also known as Micron PC, chipped in $1 million, and the city of Nampa contributed $550,000 in 1999. The funding allowed the Franklin Boulevard interchange to be improved at least three years ahead of ITDs schedule.


Cabelas is the anchor tenant for the planned 200-acre Pointe at Post Falls retail and commercial center being developed by Foursquare Properties Inc., of Carlsbad, Calif. The sporting goods chains $20 million, 130,000-square-foot facility is being built by Vandervert Construction Inc., of Spokane.


The Post Falls Cabelas alone is expected to generate over $100 million in annual sales and bring in $6 million a year in sales taxes. So far, Cabelas, which is scheduled to open this fall, is the only announced tenant for the development. When the development is completed, however, it is expected to generate $30 million in annual sales tax revenue, the sales tax-rebate enabling legislation says.


Contact Mike McLean at (509) 344-1266 or via e-mail at mikem@spokanejournal.com.