June 12-13, 2014

Tour

During our visit to Eastern Idaho last week the staff at LHTAC, Council Members and local community members took a half day tour through some of our past and present projects in Eastern Idaho. The tour included Stimulus, LHSIP, Federal-aid and LRHIP projects. The bus started in Idaho Falls with a Federal-aid project on 17th and Pancheri Street. This project included a new asphalt pavement riding course, seal coat, approach improvements, replacement of curb and gutter, installation of numerous ADA compliant sidewalk accesses and utility adjustments. The tour continued on through numerous projects in Idaho Falls, Rigby, Rexburg, Sugar City, St. Anthony and back through Ririe.  Along the way we were able to see a few future project sites and even stop at Stone Bridge, an active project site, sponsored by Fremont County. (more…)

Hearing scheduled in Lewiston June 26 to take comment on applications for new 129,000-pound truck routes in north central Idaho

The Idaho Transportation Department announced that a public hearing is scheduled June 26 in Lewiston to take comment on two applications allowing trucks weighing up to 129,000 pounds on state highway routes. The proposed shipments are known as “reducible loads,” meaning cargo or goods can be removed to make the shipments lighter. The hearing will be held on Thursday (June 26) from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Idaho Transportation Department’s offices in Lewiston, 2600 Frontage Road. The purpose of the meeting is to take comment on applications to allow 129,000-pound trucks on:

• U.S. 95 – from Grangeville to Lewiston (milepost 241 to 312)
• U.S. 12 – from where U.S. 12 joins U.S. 95, across Clearwater Memorial Bridge to Mill Road (milepost 3 to 1.49)

Transportation department staff members will be at the hearing to answer questions, and there will be an opportunity to give verbal or written testimony. Those interested in reviewing application materials before the meeting can visit itd.idaho.gov, and click on the 129,000 lbs. Truck Routes icon on the right side of the page. Those interested in submitting comments before the meeting can do so by visiting the webpage. Comments will be received through Thursday, June 26. The Idaho Transportation Board Subcommittee on 129,000-pound trucks will review department analysis and public input at a later meeting before making a recommendation to the full transportation board.

Source: https://www.idahocities.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/141

Message from the Idaho Office of Highway Safety – Quick Notes June 2014

The 100 days between the Memorial and Labor Day holidays is the deadliest time for crashes on Idaho roads, according to statistics collected by the Idaho Transportation Department. The increase in crashes comes despite the fact that driving and road conditions are often at their best. Those are the most dangerous days because along with those better road conditions and warmer summer temperatures, there also are more people out on the roads recreating, school is out so more young drivers are using the roads, and more bicyclists and motorcycles are on the highways. The 100 days between Memorial and Labor Day represents 28 percent of the days in the year, yet in 2012, those days accounted for 40 percent of fatal crashes.

This summer please share the 100 deadliest days message. Billboards are placed around the state, posters are available for partners and agencies, sample social media messages and other tools are also available. To order posters or to receive the sample social media messages, contact Lisa Losness lisa.losness@itd.idaho.gov, 208-334-8103.

Safety Spotlight:

The Cavendish Highway is one of three roads of great importance to the county as it provides a major collector to the Cavendish/Sunnyside areas, a route that links Clearwater County to the cities of Kendrick and Moscow , and has provided an alternative route for State Highway 12.

There are several locations where the slope of the fill is several hundred feet and at a slope of 1:1 or greater. Although Clearwater County Road & Bridge has been able to upgrade a small section of the guardrail , it was unable to finish the necessary repairs due to lack of funding.  Since 2005 there have been 35 recorded crashes on this Highway, and 27 of that 35 are lane departures.  Within those 27 lane departures there has been 1 Fatality, 2 Serious (A) Injuries, 7 Evident (B) Injuries, 8 Possible (C) Injuries, as well as 9 Property Damages.

This Safety Improvement Project includes installing and upgrading guardrails on a 5 mile section of Cavendish Highway. The safety objectives of this project is to reduce the amount of injuries and fatalities on this road.

The Local Highway Technical Assistance Council has recently started the design process on this project and construction is scheduled to begin as early as Fiscal Year 2015.