Congratulations Jay Davis with Lemhi County as being named a 2020 Innovation Idea Award Nominee.
Problem Statement: In Lemhi County, and numerous other counties and highway districts across the state, we are faced with challenges when doing maintenance activities, repairs, or emergency road and bridge recovery in areas that endangered species are present. Permits and biological assessments are required, these are costly to both the annual budget as well as the amount of time in which these processes take to complete.
There are two main issues that arise from this process. 1. As a rural community, we do not have the staff or the capacity to have in-house permits completed. These are done using outside contract labor and typically cost up to $6,000 or more per project if assistance is unavailable from the US Army Corps of Engineers. We can see up to four or more projects that require the permitting process on an annual basis. 2. On many occasions, in the time it takes to complete the permitting process, receive the assessments, and the “green light” from approximately seven different federal and state agencies (including but not limited to: USACE, USFWS, NOAA, IDFG, DEQ, FEMA), the problem originally identified have changed and most times, worsens to create additional problems, hazards, and costs.
Summary of Solution: The solution to this issue is to develop a “Programmatic” for all maintenance work to be completed in areas where endangered species are present. The programmatic document is a tool that is basically a permitting document for projects under the scope of maintenance and repair. This project would be the first of its kind in the state of Idaho for local jurisdictions, it is precedent-setting. Any new projects would still require the full permitting process.
The permitting process is tedious and slow, there are no current “handbooks” in which the workers on the ground can navigate these projects. This living document would provide an essential tool to ensure the work completed is applying all BMP’s as well as documentation and actions required by state and federal rules and regulations while working in and around areas where endangered species are present (e.g. monitoring, fish counts, turbidity reports, etc.).
This model is already in use by the Forest Service, ITD, and some areas in other states by local jurisdictions. We are adapting those models to fit the needs of our region and ensuring all aspects of the ESA requirements are met. To guarantee success with this model, new training will be in place as well as support and partnerships from state and federal agencies. This solution, we believe will strengthen our partnerships with these regulatory agencies by being proactive in our approach to maintenance work as well as save local, state, and federal taxpayers money.
Materials: Completed Programmatic Manual and additional training programs for staff once completed.
Total Budget: $5,000
Savings/Benefit of the Solution: It is difficult to actually quantify this number for several reasons. There are so many unforeseeable expenses when it comes to keeping roadways open and safe.
In the past, counties and highway departments throughout Idaho will spend an average of $24,000 annually on permitting alone. This value does not quantify the added costs of labor and materials after waiting for approval of permitting documents which typically increase if projects cannot be repaired in a timely manner.
Over a ten-year period, just in permitting alone, that is a cost savings of nearly a quarter of a million dollars just in permitting. While those numbers are promising, we don’t expect this to be a one size fits all solution. We believe this will be a “living document” for many years that requires training, partnerships, and the ability to adapt as programs and projects require.
2020 Innovation Idea Awards Announced
On behalf of the selection committee for the Innovation Idea Award, congratulations to all our 2020 Honorees!
It was our pleasure to see so many outstanding nominations from local highway jurisdictions around the state. The nominations we received illustrated how hard the transportation community is continuously striving to develop both time and cost-saving efficiencies.
- Brad Farner, City of Nampa, Street Sweeper
- Jay Davis, Lemhi County, Idaho Programmatic Project
- Independent Highway District, Extending Centerline Marking Life