On Monday, Aug. 24, the orange sign at Reed Road and Honeysuckle Avenue said the closure would end Sept. 25. By Wednesday it said Oct. 5. Hayden Reporter photographed both versions, and the new date was more than five weeks past the substantial-completion date the city had on file.
Oct. 5 came and went. In its project update dated Oct. 7, the City of Hayden still showed Ramsey Road closed to through traffic from Hayden Avenue to Prairie Avenue, and Honeysuckle Avenue closed from Atlas Road to Reed Road. If you've been taking the detour since late June, the delay has a cause you can trace, and that cause matters more than one intersection. The city has a list of rebuilds waiting behind this one, and every one of them will run on the same kind of calendar.
A Fix Planned in 2015, Under Construction in 2026
The roundabout didn't come out of nowhere. In 2013, planning work rated the old four-way stop at Ramsey and Honeysuckle at level of service E and said it needed near-term mitigation. Later analysis found traffic volumes high enough to call for a signal or another form of control, and it recorded congestion, long delays and long queues at the stop signs.
The city's 2015 intersection report, dated July 22, 2015 and taken to the council that August, favored a dual-lane roundabout. Its models showed low delay, short queues and no failures through 2040. The council dropped the other options because of property impacts, future queuing, or because they didn't solve the problem the study had found.
That age shows up in the construction record. In July, the council approved an $8,000 amendment to the engineering contract with Welch Comer. Part of the reason, Hayden Reporter explained, was that pieces of the original design relied on topographic survey work done several years earlier, so the grading plans needed updating before paving went further.
The money came from inside the city budget. The roughly $1.7 million construction cost was paid for by shifting existing Fund 130 major-capital money, with no new funding request, according to council agenda materials. That move raised the fund from a budgeted $883,000 to about $2.6 million.
How the Dates Moved
LaRiviere Inc. won the construction contract in May at $1,714,895.55. The city's project page says construction was underway by June 22. Since then, five change orders have moved both the price and the schedule.
| Date set | Milestone | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Original contract | Substantial completion Aug. 28 | Hayden Reporter, July 20 |
| Change Order 1 and engineering amendment, July | Substantial completion Aug. 29 | Hayden Reporter, July 20 |
| Roadside sign, Aug. 24 | Closure ends Sept. 25 | Hayden Reporter, Aug. 27 |
| Roadside sign, Aug. 26 | Closure ends Oct. 5 | Hayden Reporter, Aug. 27 |
| Change Order 4 | Substantial completion Sept. 24 | Hayden Reporter, Sept. 24 |
| Change Order 5, approved Oct. 13 | Substantial completion Oct. 6, ready for final payment Oct. 16 | Hayden Reporter, Oct. 12 |
The table holds two separate kinds of dates. Substantial completion is a contract milestone. Reopening the road to traffic is a different event, and the city has said so directly. When asked about the Oct. 5 date, City Engineer Ty Kovatch told Hayden Reporter:
Oct. 5 "is the anticipated date to re-open the intersection to traffic."
In the same written response, the city noted that "there is still a lot of work to be completed" after traffic starts moving again. In its Oct. 12 report on Change Order 5, Hayden Reporter added that the revised contract dates "do not independently establish a public reopening date."
The Work Under the Road
Half of the 12 days added in Change Order 5 came from other companies' crews working in the same space. On July 30, LaRiviere's project manager emailed Ziply Fiber, TDS, Avista and Spectrum asking for completion schedules on their remaining relocation work, which he described as being in "911 status."
Welch Comer reviewed each extension request against the project records and approved less time than the contractor asked for:
- Ziply Fiber and its contractor, Ridgeline Utilities. LaRiviere asked for four days and got four, since utility crews held areas needed for demolition, excavation and grading.
- Spectrum. LaRiviere asked for five days and got one. The engineers found that overhead transfers and pole removal slowed progress but that other work continued during that stretch.
- Underground conflicts at the stormwater drywells. LaRiviere asked for three days and got one.
- Pedestrian and bicycle access changes. These added two days and $2,555.35 to rework ramps, curbs, approaches, sidewalks and detectable warning surfaces on all four legs of the roundabout.
With four nonworking weekend days added, Change Order 5 brings the total added contract time to 30 days. It also lowers the contract price by $6,108.43, from $1,749,135.63 to $1,743,027.20. The council approved it on the consent calendar at its Oct. 13 meeting, with all three members present voting yes.
Utility relocation was in the record from the start. In July, the Hayden Lake Irrigation District had to move a fire hydrant and water meter farther east than planned, at a cost the district will repay the city under existing agreements. The extra engineering time approved that month was meant to coordinate private utilities including KEC and Avista Gas.
The Detour Had Its Own Construction
The closure changed how traffic moved several blocks away. Early on, LaRiviere added signs and lane-closure measures to steer drivers along the detour and keep through traffic off neighborhood streets. Because the closure ran past the start of the school year, school buses had to keep routing around the work zone. The contractor was responsible for working out a route with the school district.
The longest-lasting change is at Hayden Avenue and Ramsey Road. A temporary signal went in there to handle the extra detour traffic. On Oct. 7, the city's contractors finished a new spanwire signal that the city says permanently replaces the four-way stop. It adds detection to cut down on queuing and dead time, plus lighting on the southwest and northeast corners.
The List Behind This One
The same city project page shows that intersection on a longer list. A roundabout at Hayden Avenue and Ramsey Road is listed with a finalized design, and right-of-way negotiations are the next step. The rest of the queue, as of the city's current posting:
- Hayden Avenue and Atlas Road roundabout. The design is finalized and right-of-way negotiations are underway. Road widening and a temporary traffic signal were proposed for summer and fall 2026.
- Hayden Avenue and Huetter Road roundabout. The design is being finalized, and right-of-way negotiations come next.
- Government Way and Honeysuckle Avenue. A southbound right-turn lane is in design, with right-of-way acquisition pending.
- Government Way and Miles Avenue. A traffic light is fully designed, and the right-of-way is partly acquired.
- Government Way at Dakota Avenue and at Wyoming Avenue. Both are listed as next steps, with a traffic light named for Wyoming.
The Government Way items come out of a completed traffic study of the stretch between Hayden Avenue and Prairie Avenue, done in partnership with the Hayden Urban Renewal Agency. Honeysuckle Avenue shows up twice on the list, which means the corridor that just went through one closure has more work coming at its west end.
Next on Honeysuckle: The Boat Launch
At the lake end of Honeysuckle, the next project is the Honeysuckle Boat Launch on Hayden Lake. In June the city won a $250,000 grant from the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation's Waterways Improvement Fund. With a $75,000 city match from the Honeysuckle Boat Launch Fund, the total budget is $325,000. Hayden Reporter covered the council's July 14 vote to accept the grant, and the grant period runs July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027.
The city's own photos show why the launch needs the work. They show spalling concrete, a worn ramp with poor drainage, and the south dock sitting on the ramp. According to the grant application, the project will:
- Regrade and resurface the ramp, rebuilding the upper asphalt and lower concrete sections for drainage and access
- Move the south dock about 2 feet south by cutting and replacing pilings
- Build an ADA-accessible concrete walkway from the north dock to the south end of the facility
The city's latest update, dated June 29, says construction is expected to start in fall 2026. No start date or launch closure dates have been posted with it. The application's working window ran from Sept. 1, 2026, to June 1, 2027, but that was an estimate for the grant and not a construction schedule.
Checking Before You Drive or Launch
For both projects, the City of Hayden Public Works projects page is where closure notices and progress charts get posted. Its Oct. 7 roundabout entry reported center and splitter islands poured, sidewalks and swales taking shape, and striping started. Hayden Reporter has covered each change order as it reached the council, and its stories link to the agenda packets. The roadside signs show the contractor's current target. The city page shows what the city has confirmed.
If you're weighing a home or a lot off Honeysuckle, Ramsey, Atlas or Hayden Avenue, knowing which intersections are on the city's list can tell you a lot about the next few construction seasons. Mia Suchoski can walk you through how the road and lake access around a property may change before you commit. Let's connect.
