Idaho Roads - US 2/95



Just know that US 2 doesn't actually change directions when it's concurrent with US 95, but Idaho never quite gets that right.


ID 41 NB ends in Oldtown, ID, while the SB side actually begins in Newport, WA. Here are some old, presumably Idaho-erected NB signs, the only place you'll see an outlined 2 shield.


Two kinds of oldness on display. We've already seen the second kind, while the first one is the brown US 2 shield. Idaho used to use brown shields for all scenic routes, but stopped the practice around 2009. You'll see proper location of the directional banner as this page continues.


WB and a railroad to the north over the Priest River.


Assorted double-trail and old-scenic shield assemblies. Click on the last one for a brown shield closeup.


Oldish stuff WB out of Sandpoint. The railroad bridge is now a walking trail.


Weird things start happening in Sandpoint. Although there are plenty of streets inside that could be used as a shortcut, US 2 follows a one-way square around downtown. US 2 EB used to meet US 95 coming in from the south on Pine St. at 1st Ave., which is where this overhead comes from, but US 95 now bypasses the city to the east as of June 2012. Since I was there in 2013, it's marginally excusable that nothing has been done to fix these signs. After all, following the old road will still take you to the modern highway. But the signs themselves are wonky; there are no directional banners.


A left/right pair of signs that used to feature US 95 shields underneath. US 95 headed north here, but US 2 should still have had an East banner for its own.


Sign carcasses welcome you to the parking lots off Main Street east of 1st Ave.


US 2 EB and formerly US 95 NB wrap around 1st Ave. onto Cedar St., at which point US 2 East is heading due west. It then manages to junction itself, which is even more awkward without the context of this being the first time US 95 NB meets US 2 WB. A "west" banner would go a long way. The 2nd photo is on the right where the first photo atop this page is on the left.


Completing the picture of US 2 EB meeting US 2 WB where US 95 NB once met US 95 SB, Cedar St. WB at 5th Ave. And such is Sandpoint. I wonder if at some point they'll let 5th Ave. be two-way down to Pine St. and kill off US 2 EB's unnecessarily circuitous EB loop.


Get stuck in the loop and you'll find these signs where US 2 WB (5th Ave. SB) meets US 2 EB (Pine St.).

Along US 2 WB entering Sandpoint.


Newer signs with oddities EB at the beginning of ID 200 and the modern US 2/95 concurrency, and WB on the ramp leaving US 95 SB at the same spot. I don't get the spaced-out Type C (is that even C?) font, the mismatch of shields, font sizes, and arrow types, and most of all, the reversed ID 200 shields. A standalone shield should be a white state and white numerals on a black background with a white border. A shield on a guide sign should have a white state with a black name inside.


Again in 2013, construction was underway north of Sandpoint (photos are US 2 WB/US 95 SB) to dualize the highway for almost 2 miles north from the new US 2/US 95 bypass interchange.


Looking southeast from US 2/95 at the railroad crossing of the Pack River. The bridge ain't much, but those abutments, man.


A few old and interesting WB/SB signs, from El Paso St. in Moyie Springs to the 2nd photo atop this page.


Want old? This is button copy years old, Main St. NB leaving Bonners Ferry at US 2/95 and an old railroad semaphore next to it.


Here's a stop just west of the Montana border. Why is Signs By Fred fabricating highway signs, and where in the everloving afterlife did they procure this overlapping font? And who was stuck paying for this? (The taxpayers, sadly.)


Moyie Dam and the US 2 bridge over the Moyie River, looking north from the weird sign.

Onto US 95 alone

Into Washington on US 2
Into Montana on US 2
Back to Idaho Roads
Back to Roads