The Idaho Transportation board will focus on highway operations when it visits District 3 next week as part of its monthly meeting. The board visit is planned for Wednesday with the business meeting to follow on Thursday.

Presentations on district activities such as highway striping, vegetation and stenciling are planned as part of the tour. Plans also include a stop at Headquarters where board members will receive an update on the Ada County Highway District’s proposed 30th Street extension project. ACHD staff members will brief the board on potential impacts the project will have on ITD’s 44-acre campus to the west.

Other board agenda items

Performance Measurement report
Idaho Code requires state agencies to submit Performance Measurement Reports to the Division of Financial Management and Legislative Services Office every year by Sept. 1. Some of the topics to be included are an agency overview, reports on revenues and expenditures, a profile of cases managed and/or key services provided and performance highlights.

ITD’s report will be presented to the board for approval at its business meeting on Thursday at the District 3 office.

Among the performance highlights mentioned in the document are the successful transition to the new central-issue driver’s license; implementation of the Transportation Asset Management System (TAMS); establishing the Dashboard to track performance; and developing the Aviation System Plan.

Data in the profile of cases managed and/or key services provided covers a number of areas, including:

• The total contracts awarded for highway construction projects in state fiscal year 2010/2011, including GARVEE and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) stimulus projects, was 149 with a dollar value of $237.4 million.
• The 511 Statewide Traveler Service system received 321,971 phone calls and 4,259,753 visits to the website during that time period.
• There were 1,635,857 vehicles registered with 1,069,542 driver’s licenses in force.
• Forty-three of Idaho’s forty-four counties received public transportation services.

Highway Safety Performance Plan
The Office of Highway Safety administers the behavior Highway Safety Program with funding from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The goal of the program is to reduce deaths, serious injuries and economic losses resulting from traffic crashes by implementing programs to address driver behaviors.

A summary of Idaho traffic crashes that occurred in 2010 will be provided to the board. The Highway Safety Performance Plan then will be presented for approval. The plan is prepared every year to identify and address the most critical behavior-related highway safety problems. The highest priorities for FY12 funding are related to safety restraint use, impaired drivers and aggressive driving. The total budget for the behavior program is $7.2 million.

In 2009, 226 people were killed and 11,393 were injured in traffic crashes on Idaho highways. This was a 4.8 percent decrease in fatalities, with 232 reported in 2008, and 5.7 percent decrease from the 11,995 injuries in 2008.

Aggressive driving was a factor in 52 percent of all crashes and 47 percent of all fatalities in 2009. Drivers, ages 19 and younger are more than four times more likely to be involved in aggressive driving collisions than all other drivers.

In 2009, 74 fatalities resulted from impaired driving crashes, or 33 percent of all fatalities. Slightly more than 14 percent of impaired drivers involved in crashes were younger than 21, even though they are too young to legally purchase alcohol.

Capital Facilities Program
The six-year Capital Facilities Program will be presented to the board for approval. The FY13 request, totaling $2.85 million, includes a Coeur d’Alene truck wash, a remodel of the District 2 administrative building’s main entrance, a new maintenance building near Murphy in District 3, a new welding shop in District 5, and a new sand shed in Ririe (District 6).

At Headquarters, efforts will continue to upgrade the security system and resize the computer room’s electrical and fire systems. Funds for alterations, repairs and statewide preventive maintenance also are included in the request.

Published 8-12-2011