Child Pedestrian, Congestion Mitigation and GARVEE highlight August 16-17 Idaho Transportation Board Meeting
A review of the child pedestrian safety and congestion mitigation programs, and discussion of possible GARVEE projects will highlight the Aug. 16-17 meeting of the Idaho Transportation Board in Coeur d’Alene.
Tour
The board will tour District 1 August 16, traveling ID-41 and US-2 from Coeur d’Alene to Sandpoint. After touring Litehouse Foods and Quest Aircraft, and meeting with l
ocal officials during lunch, the board will return to Coeur d’Alene via US-95.
Children Pedestrian Safety Program
At its business meeting on August 17 in the District 1 Office, the board will continue discussing the Children Pedestrian Safety Program. Last month, the board was informed that ITD and local highway jurisdictions will receive $27.5 million, to be split 60/40%, respectively. The money is from the General Fund surplus and can be used for road and bridge maintenance and replacement, including right-of-way acquisition, and child pedestrian safety projects. The board concurred with targeting up to $2 million for children pedestrian safety projects.
Staff has been working with the Local Highway Technical Assistance Council on options to implement the program. The intent is to jointly solicit projects this fall for projects to be completed by winter 2018. The Transportation Alternatives Program recommendation committee will be asked to score the applications, with no single project is $250,000. Funds will be provided as a grant, with no match required. Funds cannot be used for education or outreach.
Staff will ask the board for authorization to continue coordinating with LHTAC and jointly solicit and evaluate applications for the 2018 Children Pedestrian Safety projects. The list of recommended projects will be presented to the board for approval.
Considerations for remaining GARVEE funding
Staff will provide information to the board as they reach a decision on allocating the remaining $150 million GARVEE bonds authorized by the legislature this past session.
A review of the unfunded/incomplete segments in each authorized corridors will be presented. The overview will include project readiness, safety, congestion, and mobility information. Other topics such as market trends and contractor availability also will be discussed.
The intent is to have the board provide a short list of projects to pursue. Earlier, the board approved $150 million for the I-84, Franklin to Karcher project in District 3.
Expansion and Congestion Mitigation Program
Legislation this past session established the Expansion and Congestion Mitigation Program. ITD will receive 1% of sales tax revenue after revenue sharing with the locals. Currently, this is estimated at $15.2 million for FY18. Additionally, the department is to receive Cigarette Tax revenue after all of the fixed distributions have been satisfied. This is estimated at $5.1 million
The legislation requires the board to select projects that “may include mitigation of traffic times, improvement to traffic flow and mitigation of traffic congestion.” Staff will lead a discussion to develop a policy for this program. Some of the topics will include identifying an eligibility criterion of recurring congestion, such as Level of Service; completing corridors with average annual daily traffic greater than 15,000; and scoring projects with TREDIS, which considers traffic volumes, speed, travel times, and safety components.
Published 08-11-17